The Complicated Relationship Between Heart and Brain
by TDDoHLaL
Summary: (Rewritten) Just because your heart is sure of something, it doesn't automatically mean that your brain feels the same. But when your brain and every pore of your body finally realize it, everything could be too late. Other friends and foes can appear in the interim and stop you. Mainly Takari, but also with hints of other pairings.
1. Chapter 1: Rejection

**The complicated relationship between heart and brain**

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Description: Just because your heart is sure of something, it doesn't automatically mean that your brain feels the same. But when your brain and every pore of your body finally realize it, everything could be too late. Other friends and foes can appear in the interim and stop you. Mainly TAKARI, but also with hints of other pairings.

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(Chapter has been rewritten on 12/29/2013. Chapters 2-4 will be rewritten during the next couple of days, since I realized that some parts are just... Well, awkward.

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A/N: Hello everybody! My name is Toby and this is my first fanfic! Although I'm a big fan of Digimon Adventure (and of Takari) since a couple of years, I've never tried to write any fanfics. If you want to read more about me and my history, just visit my profile.

This is going to be a multi-chapter story, of course based on evil villains and on the relationship between Takeru Takaishi/TK and Hikari Yagami/Kari. Alongside Takari, this fic will also include some other couplings, like e.g. PataGato, Taiora and Kenyako.

The whole story is set five years after season 02, so Taichi, Yamato and Sora are 19 years old, Jyou is 20 years old, Mimi and Koushiro are 18 years old, Miyako is 17 years old, Iori is 13 years old and Ken, Takeru, Hikari and Daisuke are 16 years old.

And - obviously - I also have to write a disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Digimon. Of course Takari would be canon if I'd own Digimon.

* * *

**Chapter one: Rejection**

Day 1: 21.12.

(3rd person POV, 6:40pm)

Everyone's jaws just dropped. The whole gym got immediately quiet as a tall, young, blonde-haired man appeared during the second quarter of the most important basketball game in the season. Nearby the main entrance to the gym he stood, the "freshman sensation" and best player in the whole team, Takeru Takaishi, observed by everybody in the hall, even by the other Digidestined and their Digimon. Mimi and Palmon, who spent their winter winter vacation in Odaiba, didn't know how to react on the unexpected appearance of Takeru. Everybody thought that he abandoned his team, but as he showed up during the second quarter, the whole gym also realized that he was immediately ready to play, despite of hisr recent state. He was full of anger and despair. His hair was even more messed than it was usually. His clothes got wet from the heavy falling snow and his eyes showed a great emptiness in his soul.

"He looks like he lost his hope," some fan girl quietly stated. Unfortunately, everybody heared what she saied and gazed her on, since the tribunes were quiet in this moment. Only Takeru seemed to ignore this words. Nevertheless, everybody saw his anger rise when he noticed that everybody was watching him. But he tried to ignore them though and went to the coach of his team. But why was he late?

(3rd person POV, 7:40am)

Hikari was late for school. Instead of hurrying up, she was just going to Odaiba High School as usual, ignoring the other people around her, who has been ain a even greater hurry than she was. The heavy scent of benzine that emerged from tha cars on the crowded road of course made the atmosphere even worse. Of course she knew why she was late. Yesterday's incident made her think about Daisuke, Takeru and herself the whole time. Because of that she hadn't enough energy for a fast sprint to the school.

Daisuke's letter got stuck in her head and made her think about the relationships between herself and Daisuke and of course between me and Takeru. Although her heart was sure that she loved Takeru, her brain thought the whole time about how impossible it was to get closer to Takeru, instead of supporting the other part of herself.

_'Of course he is my best friend and he cares about me, but is this enough? Would it destroy our friendship when he rejects me? Is it worth it if I might destroy the bond between me and my best friend? So why shouldn't I go together with Daisuke to our Digidestined christmas party? Maybe our Digimon aren't so close to each other, maybe we don't share as much similar experiences as I share with Takeru, maybe our crests and personalities aren't as compatible to each other as mine and Hope's. But it probably wouldn't harm anybody,'_ her heart stated.

Due to her reserved state of mind, she didn't even realized that she already stood stood before her classroom. After this sudden realization she took one last deep breath, rubbing her hair with the palm of her left hand and checking if her hair was straight, and went into her classroom. Next to the board stood , her English teacher, in a straight position, writing some new vocabulary down. Before he could comment her delay, Hikari spoke up with a slightly uncertain voice.

"I'm sorry for my delay, I got problems with my alarm clock and stood up a bit too late," Hikari argued. Of course Hikari was hiding the real reason for her delay. Several minutes ago she began to think about Daisuke's letter again, hence she hasn't paid enough attention to the red alarm clock in her room.

" , please sit down and listen carefully to my advices", calmly stated, as if nothing happened. To her luck he was a pretty understanding teacher, so she just sat down next to Takeru, who inspected him with his deep sapphire eyes. As usual, he started to smile when the Digidestined of Light sat down next to him. Usually she can read everything in his mind, and he also can read everything in her mind, but this was the one smile that she couldn't understand. She has often tried to read his mind when he smiled that one smile that made her heart shivering lightly, but yet all her attempts failed.

Of course she did want to say something to him, but as he recognized saw his smile, her inner conflict began to rise up again. Several seconds later she glared at his well-built body, who was a bit visible thorugh his green Junior High School uniform, which was partly defined by the little white stripes on it. Afterwards she inspected his messy hair, which seemed to be even more beautiful to her with the little, almost invisible snowflakes distributed in it. Eventually she stared at his deep, cobalt blue eyes. Takeru answered her gaze with a deep gaze from himself. Both enjoyed the invisible contact they had through their gazes. Hikari's feelings reached a unbelievable level, due to the joy her heart literally spread out. Unfortunately, Hikari became a bit unconscious with the time, whereby she hasn't noticed Takeru's voice.

"Hello, earth to Hikari? Can you please answer to me?" Takeru asked his best friend with a polite voice, still gazing into her hazelnut eyes. Suddenly Hikari felt how the the blood rushed towards her cheeks, realizing that Takeru spoke to her since a couple of seconds. But, surprisingly, Takeru's mind seemed to be as reserved as.

_'I already forgot how cute she looks when she is embarrassed,'_, Takeru sheepishly thought. To his misfortune, this sudden thought made his cheeks as carmin red as Hikari's.

In such moments Takeru couldn't deny that his best friend, Hikari Yagami, was also the biggest crush in his life. Immediately he started to think about the memories they shared since

their first adventure in the Digital World, 7 years ago. According to that, he also thought

about the moment he realized that he loved her. It happened when she was abducted by the Dark Ocean, whereupon Patamon, Gatomon and Takeru himself went to the Dark Ocean to rescue her from the Dark forces that emerged the Dark Ocean. Since that day, his feelings had grown stronger and stronger with every single day. Because of that it also became severe to hide his own feelings from his best friend. He just couldn't tell her how he reqally felt for her, since this could destroy their friendship, which was very important for the Bearer of Hope.

Thus his friendship to Hikari wasn't really easy during the last couple of years, but, according to him, it was worth it.

"Hey, Hika. You just looked somehow upset. Does something bother you?" Takeru asked the Bearer of Light.

"Oh, hey Keru. I'm really sorry, but I... I... I'm fine," Hikari answered with a partially nervous voice.

Suddenly Takeru realized that she was really bothered about something. As her best friend, he thought he could ask her about that even in this moment. "Hika, does something or someone bother you?" Takeru asked the Digidestined of Light with a very concerned and anxious voice. Just a mere second later, he added: "I also have to talk to you about something important later, if you don't mind."

"Well..." Hikari looked for the right words, but in this very moment she couldn't find any. She still was bothered about the whole situation, but she also knew that her best friend still waited for a consistent answer. That's why she answered with the first thought she had in her mind.

"Can we talk about that later? I'm not sure if it'd be the best to discuss everything here in the class since we can't talk really freely with each other. I think that it might be better when we talk to each other during our next break behind the big tree on our schoolyard, but first I have to do something really important. So I'll come a few minutes later," Hikari explained her situation to her best friend.

Of course Takeru understood Hikari's answer, considering that they had to concentrate on their lesson.

"Just as you please, mylady!" Takeru answered with a quiet, but also playful voice. After this

sudden answer she giggled slightly. These little giggle made Takeru also smile happily. Of course Takeru's smile also has been noticed by his best friend. Thereby Takeru turned around as fast as he could, trying to hide the slight blush that appeared on his face, noticing Patamon and Tailmon on their usual spot on the cherry tree next to the school building. As on cue, both of them bursted out in laughter after a statement from his Digimon partner, the brown and white guinea-pig like Patamon. As Takeru saw this sudden action outside the window, he just had one thought.

_'Why the relationship between me and Hika can't be so easy?'_

* * *

"SO YOU'RE ACTUALLY GOING WITH DAISUKE TO OUR PARTY!?" Miyako screamed on the top of her voice, so that actually every single person next to them turned around. Hikari immediately put her hand on Miyako's cherry red lips to keep all the other questions back.

"Don't scream like this! My decision isn't final yet," Hikari stated. Nevertheless, the sixteen-year old lavender haired girl bombarded her younger friend still with questions.

"Are you actually sure that this is a good idea? I mean... Are you sure you wouldn't harm anybody with this decision?" she asked her best friend with a concerned voice.

"So you still think that Takeru likes me?" the Bearer of Light asked her best friend in a rather desperate way, knowing that the whole conversation was heading straight to this point

"Of course he likes you! And I still can't realize why cou can't see it. It's _so_ obvious to everybody!", she mentioned, stressing the word 'so'. In this very moment, Hikari could just digh loudly. Hikari heard this statement very often from her best friend, hence she was slightly annoyed by this not really sudden statement. In the moment before she handed to the lavender-haired girl the letter Daisuke wrote from her, followed by a little statement that included the statement that a date with Daisuke wouldn't harm anybody.

"Maybe Miyako says it in a different way, but Takeru really possesses feelings for you."

As Hikari recognized this male voice, she suddenly turned around and saw a tall, well-built, purple-haired young man standing in front of her. It was the former Digimon Emperor and the boyfriend of her best friend, Ken Ichijouji. Hikari didn't know that the dark brown-eyed boy listened to their whole conversation. Although it was predictable that Ken would spend the break together with his girlfriend, Hikari was quite stunned. Ignoring Hikari's state of speechlessness, he continued his own speech:

"Since I met you and Takeru, it was really obvious to me that you two belong to each other. Even when I was the Digimon Emperor I saw the strength of the bond between you two."

Although Hikari's mind tried to ignore this words, her heart jumped out of joy. Nevertheless, her brain had the control over her actions and, unfortunately, it acted really weird. Suddenly Hikari's legs began to work with all their might, trying to bring the mahogany-eyed girl as wide away from her friends as possible.

After a rather short sprint, Hikari suddenly realized that she forgot something. After another couple of seconds, which were filled by rethinking what she might have forgot, the Bearer of Light suddenly realized it. It was her best friend. She admitted to hersef that she probably needed more sleep, running with all her might during the Cherry Tree in the schoolyard, but, to her misfortune, she could spot nobody around the tree. Immediately Hikari wrote an SMS to Takeru, since they had different classes for the rest of the day. It considered a short apologize, followed by the idea to meet after school. To her fortune, Takeru responded her SMS with a smiling smiley.

* * *

The rest of the day passed by for all the Digidestined of Odaiga Senior High without any special incidents. The already clouded sky has been filled with more clouds throughout the whole day. As on cue, it suddenly started to snow as Hikari Yagami went oustide the school building, wiating for her best friend, the Digidestined of Hope. Hikari was happy to have her Art class that day, since Art is one of the subjects where she can actually express herself. The fluffy white flakes calmed Hikari a bit down, despite the noise that emerged from the cars that passed the street at a high speed. After another couple of seconds, a tall blonde-haired figure appeared at the exit of the Odaiba Senior High School building. He wore a dam vest that covered a part of his green winter uniform. To this vest he wore a dam matching scarf and his trademark white fisherman's hat. His long legs were covered by a pair of usual blue jeans. But his cobalt blue eyes were enough for being outstanding on that cloudy winter day. As the tall blonde figure suddenly hugged Hikari, she felt a wave of pleasure going through her body, although her mind still tried to deny that.

"Hey Hika," Takeru spoke to his best friend, the Bearer of Light, "we should go, shouldn't we?"

Hikari answered with a short nod as they went on their way, knowing that the rest of the Digidestined already were at their homes, hence they were sure that nobody could follow them, except of their Digimon partners, Tailmon and Patamon.

First they just walked next to each other in a silence, which was yet comfortable. Both Takeru and Hikari seemed to enjoy each other's company, even though it was still. They continued their walk for half a minute until Takeru's hand suddenly touched the hand of the Bearer of Light. Even this little contact produced a reaction in Takeru's body. Immediately he felt the blood rising up to his face, although he tried to hide it. Nevertheless, he also felt a chill foing through his whole body as he noticed Hikari's deep crimson cheeks, hoping that they were actually turned crimson by the contact they shared. Immediately the snowflakes positioned on the cheek of the Digidestined of Light began to melt due to the heat radiating from them.

Apart from that, it was a usual walk home after another long day at school for the teenagers. The snow still was falling on the now less crowded streets of Odaiba, which were merely filled by other teenagers and cars which drove rather slowly through the city. However, the walk passed by much faster for both teenagers. Whenever they walked together home, both of them felt as if the walk lasted just a couple of seconds. Nevertheless, the ground seemed to be really interesting for both teenagers after their sudden contact.

Several seconds later, Takeru quickly glanced again to his secret crush, hoping that he would find enough courage to speak up in this moment despite the contact they shared some minutes ago. But as he glared into her deep, hazelnut eyes, Takeru just had to think about the beauty of Hikari. He was quite sure that she was an angle on earth with shoulder length silky, choclate brown hair, a graceful white coat covering her green school uniform which slightly showed her defined curves and perfectly matched her outfit to her eyes, in which he could glare for hours without any blink. Nevertheless, Takeru knew that this was his opportunity to ask his best friend what bothered him since days.

"Hika," Takeru started, but suddenly his courage left his body. Unexpectedly he wasn't able to explain what he did want to explain, but as he recieved a supporting glare from his secret crush, his spirits lifted a bit. This sudden eye contact overwhelmed his mind a bit, whereupon he asked her straight out: "Do you want to go together with me to the Digidestined' Christmas Party?"

A mere second later Takeru realized what he did. Instead of asking her out in a polite and solemn manner, like everybody else would do, he let his emotions took control over him and asked her straight out, which seemed not to be what she deserved.

Immediately Takeru saw the startled expression on her face. Although Hikari thought about a possible date with her best friend earlier that day, she had never expected such a question from Takeru. A second later her mind began to think about all possibilities, of course being in a deep conflict with her heart, which had a completely different opinion.

_'I'm not sure if this is a good idea. If something would go wrong, our friendship would be destroyed. And this risk is too high. It would be the best to reject him now,_' her mind stated. Of course her heart, which had a completely different opinion, argued back.

_'Are you really so stupid? Haven't you yet realized that Keru is the perfect addition to us? This is our possibility! You know as well as me that a relationship with Keru would be the suffusion of all our wishes'_, her heart argued back in a slightly too aggresive tone. _'And, besides, if we would reject Keru now, our friendship too him would be really destroyed.'_

But to the misfortune of Hikari's heart, her mind had the control over her actions. Hence she did not what her heart wanted to do. After a little, uncomfortable silence, Hikari suddenly answered to the question.

"Listen Keru," Hikari began to speak. She glared directly into the sapphire blue orbs of her best friends, which were - as always - filled by hope, although he knew what would come now. "I'm not sure if this is a good idea."

After another couple of seconds filled by an uncomfortable silence, Takeru answered with a rather insecure and silent voice. "Oh... Can you please explain me why you think so?"

In this very moment, Hikari had no idea what she should do. Her inner divorce even widened as she thought about a possible answer and why she rejected him. Both her mind and her heart argued still what could be said now, ignoring that Takeru waited since half a minute for an answer. The snow that still fell down on Odaiba's streets seemed to be ten times heavier than it actually was. Hikari even hasn't noticed that their Digimon partners, Patamon and Tailmon, were sitting on a tree next to them, listening carefully to each word.

Suddenly, after another couple of seconds filled by her inner conflict, her mind took again the control over her actions. Every other single pore of Hikari struggled with this answer, but nonetheless she spat out the words she tried to hide from Takeru, although she wasn't sure if this words would be the truth.

"Listen, Takeru, I... I... I think that I'm going together with Daisuke to our christmas party," Hikari bluntly stated with a slightly insecure voice.

Takeru suddenly stood still. He wasn't sure what he was feeling in this moment. Although he wasn't jealous or mad at Daisuke, considering that this decision had been made by his best friend, his heart shattered in a thousand pieces. Probably this sudden statement wouldn't change the feelings he had towards his best friend or towards Daisuke, but, nevertheless, Takeru wasn't sure how he should behave towards them. Takeru still thought about the kindness Hikari showed by telling him the truth as the Digidestined of Light suddenly spoke up.

"But first, I need your advice, because I am a bit uncertain if this all would be a good idea," the brunette explained to her best friend.

As Takeru still gazed with a heart-broken glance into the brunette's eyes, her inner conflict erupted again.

_'What the heck are you doing!? This was the worst mistake you ever made! You broke his heart without having _any_ particular reason!'_ Hikari's heart now bluntly screamt out. Despite this 'warning', her brain continued the earlier statement, although every single pore of Hikari was sure that this would be unnecessary injurious for his best friend after his question.

"Please hear me out, Takeru. I try to explain a part of my situation. You know that I really like you, but I don't think we should start to date one another. I am just not sure how it would maltreat our friendship, which means a lot to me. I really hope that you can understand my situation. You are one of the most important persons in my life and I can't even stand the thought of us breaking apart because of a now deeper relationship. I am really sorry if I harmed you by that," Hikari said in a reconsidering and slightly cheerless voice. All the snowflakes on her whole face immediately melt due to the now radiating heat from her body, which developed due to the now embarrassing situation.

Both Digidestined haven't noticed yet that their Digimon still were located on a tree above them, listening still carefully to their standing human partners. As well both Digidestined hasn't noticed yet that they already arrived at the crossing where they usually broke apart. People around them tried to ignore the standing teeangers, thinking that they would just gaze into one another's eyes as girlfriend and boyfriend.

Hikari had no idea what she should do now, considering the heart-broken gaze that emerged the cobalt blue eyes from her best friend, the Digidestined of Hope. Despite Hikari's explanation, Takeru still seemed to be just heartbroken. Of course he couldn't blame anybody for that, but, nevertheless, he wasn't able to show any expression on his face.

Suddenly the Bearer of Light realized that they arrived at the crossing where they sometimes broke apart. Knowing that Takeru wouldn't walk her home like usually and knowing that it would be probably too awkwards to say just 'goodbye', she pulled her best friend into a short, but also tight embrace. As Hikari put her left arm around Takeru's shoulders and her right arm around Takeru's head, she hadn't expected any reaction from Takeru. But, of course to her astonishment, Takeru accepted her embrace and threw his own right arm around her waist and his left arm around Hikari's shoulders, feeling the softness of her snow white coat. As both teenagers broke the embrace after a couple of seconds, Hikari tried to out a somewhat sincere and apologetic smile one her face. On the contrary, Takeru's face expression hasn't changed. His glare still wasn't able to show his usually hopeful and confident eyes.

As Takeru still glared into Hikari's chocolate brown eyes, he wasn't sure how he should say goodbye to his best friend. To his fortune, his best friend took the major part in the conversation, mentioing again that she hopes their friendship wouldn't be damaged after everything. Takeru just nodded as a response.

After another short, but also really different goodbye-hug without any special contact, the two best friends broke apart, not noticing what their Digimon partners did during exchanging goodbyes. Two pairs of legs began to rush in a very fast movement, hoping to have the possibility to dig themselves into holes after this embarrassing discussion.

Coincidentally both teenagers had the same thought as they went towards their own homes, which made two pairs of cheeks burn like on a hot summer day.

_'It would be definetely easier for me if s/he wouldn't look so cute with snowflakes in the face.'_

* * *

"Just one question, Kari: What was that!?" a white cat-like Digimon with ocean blue eyes, yellow gloves with orange stripes on them and a long purple-white tail asked her partner with a voice that was mixed with concern and disbelief.

The brunette just sighed and threw herself on her bed. Hikari Yagami's room was quite tidy, although it showed that a female teenager lived in it. The walls were all painted in a fluffy rosa-red colour, whereby the whole room rasiated a fluffy aura full of comfort and tranquility. Next to the tidy desk with a white Notebook on it, the owner of the room laid in her own comfortable brown bed next to the previously mentioned cat-like Digimon. The rest of the room seemed to be designed like a usual teenager's room. The window was still closed, although it was a bit too warm in the girly room. Yet nobody seemed to be disturbed by the cozy atmosphere, hence Hikari saw no logical reason to open the window in this very moment. After another moment of silence, the cat-like Digimon named Tailmon spoke up.

"I can remember the day you trold me that you are quite uncertain about your feelings. And I can't believe that you haven't such feelings for Takeru. Are you really so uncertain about your feelings that you just destroyed your big possibility to get closer to Takeru?"

Hearing this statement from her unusally interfering Digimon partner, Hikari sighed again, knowing that this could be a long discussion. But suddenly a thought hit her. She knew how she should react in this moment to end this discussion somewhat fast. Thus she pulled herself up, sitting now next to her Digimon partner.

"I knew that this may wasn't my best decision, but sometimes decisions like these have to be made. This is the best solution I could find. Oh, and besides, I'm pretty sure that you're only interested in our relationship because you want to get closer to Patamon, aren´t you?" Hikari asked her Digimon partner, knowing that this was her soft spot since the adventures she shared with Takeru's partner.

"Hika! Don't try to change the topic now," the cat-like Digimon answered, trying to hide the enormouns amount of blood that has been pumped to her now crimson cheeks, which were even visible through her white fur. Seeing this reaction from her partner, Hikari knew that her plan worked. As she tried to loosen the atmosphere, she suddenly remembered that she promised Daisuke to meet him fourty minutes after school in Odaiba Park. As Hikari suddenly remembered herself about that, she went to the door of the living room, noticing together with Tailmon a certain tall boy with a gigantic bunch of brown hair on his head, which has even grown since their last adventure. Just a second later, both of them saw another person with straight, orange hair on the couch. Both persons were in a spirited and nippy discussion, which seemed to be somewhat pleasant, though. As both persons on the couch suddenly saw Hikari and Tailmon watching their discussion, both of them stopped, trying to hide the little conflict they had.

"Hey lil' sis!" the brown-haired young man, Taichi Yagami, welcomed his younger sister. A mere second later, the girl next to him joined his greeting.

"Hello Hikari, Tailmon. How's been your day?", the orange haired girl, Sora Takenouchi, greeted Tailmon and the younger sister of her boyfriend. Even this little statement clearly showed the sister-like relationship Sora and Hikari shared.

"Hey, I reminded myself that I promised a friend to meet me in Odaiba Park soon, hence I have to leave fast. I hope that I haven't interrupted you at something," Hikari said with a reasurring voice to the two people on the couch.

"Oh, no Kari. of course not. Your brother just started an stupid argument with me," Sora answered with a slightly annoyed voice. Hikari responded with a slight chuckle to this statement, knowing how determined her brother could be. Suddenly another thought hit her. _'They are arguing so often, but... Maybe that is how a good relationship should work? '_

"What? Stupid argument? It isn't stupid to argue abou..." Taichi tried to explain the whole situation, but, due to the limited time Hikari had, she interrupted her brother, although she honestly detested to interrupt others' speeches, asking one last question.

"Are you also going to Takeru's match today? Almost all other Digidestined will be there, too!"

"Of course we will go to the match Hikari! We are really interested to see your future boyfriend playing in the most important match of the whole season!" It was really scary for Hikari that both Taichi and Sora said that in exactly the same moment, which was followed by an outburst of infantile laughter and a delightful kiss. To Hikari's fortune, her brother and Sora were really occupied with trying to slide their own lips forwards and backwards, whereby she was able to hide her blush from Sora and her older brother. Only her Digimon partner, Tailmon, chuckled since she saw how deep tomato red Hikari's face was in this moment. As the lovers calmed down a bit, Hikari tried to hide her own embarrassment by showing enervation.

"Don't start to argue with me again about that! Now I really don't have the time to talk about this topic again..." Hikari answered, sighing loudly.

After exhanging goodbyes, Hikari left the tidy Yagami's apartment together with her Digimon partner, Tailmon, heading directly towards Odaiba Park through the lightly falling snow, still thinking if a date with Daisuke would be a good idea, considering that she wasn't sure if she possessed this feelings towards him.

* * *

"I still can't realize how she could reject you. I mean... It's so obvious that she likes you too! Why should she do this?", Patamon bluntly stated. Takeru was really happy to have such a supporting friend in this moment.

The tidy room of Takeru Takaishi was still after Patamon's statement. The green walls, which were partly covered by posters of great Basketball players, seemed to radaite calmness and hope. Takeru Takaishi still laid on his bed, playing with a basketball in his hands. Next to his bed stood a large oak table, which was as tidy as the whole room. Distinctive were just the pictures which were positioned in the corners of the table. One picture was made by Andromon after their first adventure, the second picture showed the second generation of Digidestined at Ken's apartment during the Christmas party they had during their second adventure. The third picture was a picture made by his mother in his own room. It showed his brother, Yamato, rubbing Takeru's hair with Patamon laughing to the whole situation. The fourth picture was made in New York by another Digidestined, Mimi Tachikawa. It was made five years ago and showed himself cuddeling a certain brunette-haired girl with great choclate brown eyes.

It was the girl who rejected him just a couple of minutes ago.

"She said that she doesn't want to damage our friendship and this is what would exactly happen when we would split up after a relationship, Patamon. Besides, now this isn't important anymore. She said she's going together with Daisuke to the party."

"WHAT?" the guinea pig-like Digimon, Patamon blurted out. "I'm sure she wouldn't do this. I mean... You two are made for each other. You still have to try and I'm really sure that everything will work out. "

"It's very impressive that you have an abandonment like this", Takeru snapped back. His mind was full with images of Hikari, which he tried to ignore with all his might. But as he realized where this discussion would go, he knew that he had to change the topic immediately. After another couple of seconds he eventually found a possibility to change the topic of the discussion, which brought a visible smirk on his face.

"But if you have such a confidence, then why didn't you ask Tailmon out yet?" This sudden statement made Patamon blush like a clown. Takeru knew about Patamon's secret crush since years, but yet Patamon always managed to avoid this topic. But Patamon knew that his friend needed some good news. Hence he knew that it'd be the best to tell the whole truth in this moment.

"Well, I've tried to hide it from you, but, to be honest..."

Suddenly an idea hit Takeru's head. Recently Patamon went more often on his "little" flying trips through Odaiba and Minato. _'Could it be possible that...?'_

"Since three weeks I'm dating Tailmon. Yet we're trying to hide it from both of you, because we don't know how you will react if you hear everything about us. But - as you see at my example - the worst thing you can do is giving up. I didn't give up and now I have everything I wanted: My relationship with Tailmon is great."

"So you two are going out know!? That's great!" Takeru stated with a voice full of joy as he patted Patamon's back as a symbol of respect, joy and friendship. Patamon had a crush on Gatomon since five years and Gatomon also had a crush on Patamon, hence it was obvious that one day they will get together.

"I know that I can't give up, but - as you know - sometimes it's really hard. Hopefully your great nwes can lift my spirits. Thanks, Pata," Takeru said to his Digimon partner after their rather short talk.

* * *

"So... you're actually not going with me to our christmas party. I was kinda sure that this will be your response, but I'm glad that I tried it", Daisuke stated in a depressed way. Chibimon stood behind him, not even trying to say anything.

"Listen, Daisuke, the problem is that I don't possess feelings for you in this way. And I don't want to start a romantic relationship that isn't based on stable and honest emotions. Today I've discovered my feelings for you and I know that this sudden realization hurts you now, but it is better for us if we stay friends." As Hikari finished her explanation, her heart growled.

_'Well done, brain... Rejecting two guys on one day. Although rejecting Daisuke is logical, considering that you are just honest with him. But how could you dare to reject the guy you love as well as me!?_' Hikari's heart screamt still towards her brain, which tried to ignore it.

"Nah, it's okay. I was pretty sure that this will be your response, considering your special relationship to Takeru."

As Hikari heared this statement from the person who had a crush on her since five years, she was pretty stunned. After collecting her own thoughts, she eventually tried to negate Daisuke's explanation.

"What? No, no, no! I think you understood something wrong. I..." As Hikari tried to explain her whole situation in a reasurring voice, she suddenly felt the blood rising up towards her cheeks. As she saw the pink tint of her cheeks, she had no idea how to continue.

"Kari, I know that you now try to deny it, but..." Daisuke tried to confirm the truth, but his own feelings made it really hard for him. "Well, it really hurts to say that, but it is kinda obvious that you like Takeru. You two always spend so much time together in a happily way and when you're together, I can see this special gaze in yours and Takeru's eyes. Maybe you haven't realized it yet, but you will get together. Probably this is your destiny."

Hikari was simply speechless. Hearing this from Davis made her inwardly feeling much better, despite the uprising of her inner conflict. But, as usual, her mind had its own ideas.

Instead of thanking him for his advice, it searched for a excuse to run away as fast as possible, trying to end this talk soon.

"Sorry Daisuke, but I have to go home before the match. There is something important I hav..."

"It's okay," Daisuke interrupted one of his best friends. This was one of the reasons she couldn't see him as a potential boyfriend. Hikari despised to interrupt others' speeches, since she thought that this would be really rude. But, despite Hikari's now annoyed glare, Daisuke finished his statement. "Just do what you have to do, I won't keep you away from your house."

"Thanks, Daisuke," Hikari answered with a partially emotionless voice. "You're a good friend to me."

As Hikari finished her statement, she could immediately see how Daisuke's face expression fell at the word 'friend'. Instantly Hikari left the park and headed towards her home.

* * *

_'Okay, Takeru, stay calm! This is maybe the most important match of the year! The team just has to get to the playoffs. This really isn't the best moment to think about Hikari!'_

Eventually Takeru gave up. The image of his best friend and crush was stuck in my mind. It wasn't helpful that the whole school was covered under a white, fluffy blanket of snow that reminded him of her graceful white coat and of her fluffy personality. _'Maybe it's because I am the Digidestined of Hope, but deep inside me I still have the Hope that she could possess feelings for me too. But maybe I just try to imagine it to myself. Nevertheless, I can't lost my hope.'_

Suddenly Takeru stopped and tilted his head. As he went through the schoolyard, he noticed a boy with spiky, brown hair in the corner of his right eye. It was _him._ Takeru couldn't understand why, but his anger towards Daisuke slightly grew up. He knew that it wasn't his fault that Hikari rejected him, but, thinking about everything that happened earlier, Takeru thought that he should congratulate Daisuke. Thus he went to him with a somewhat confident, until the Bearer of Hope realized that the second goggle-head looked depressed.

"Hey Dai, what's up? I suppose you're feeling a bit lonely here, sitting alone on a bench...", Takeru spoke to one of his best friends with a rather calm voice.

"Oh, hey Takeru. Erhm, it's..." Suddenly he stopped is own speech. After another couple of seconds, he spoke further. "Nothing. Really, just don't mind."

Of course Takeru noticed that something was bothering him due to the depressed and bothered expression of his face. "Listen, Dai, we are friends, so you can tell me everything. I see that you are depressed and in my opinion it isbetter to talk about your own feelings than hiding them from everybody."

"But Takeru... I'm pretty sure that this is none of your business," Daisuke answered with a cold, emotionless voice.

_'Why was he trying to hide something from me?' _Takeru quietly thought as he suddenly realized everything.

"Is it about Hikari?" Takeru bluntly asked his friend, whose eyes widened in shock. Even his veins got visible. After a little, uncomfortable silence he continued. "Well, I know that you will get probably happy from this news, although you would try to deny it, so..." After another little pause, Takeru blurted everything out. "She rejected me."

Suddenly Daisuke's eyes grew as wide as they could, thus Takeru thought that he would be happy by this message. _'At least a friend got happy because of my shattered heart... Probably I have to comfort myself with that.'_ But suddenly, just a second later, Takeru was frightened.

"WHAT!?" Davis screamt on me at the top of his voice. "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? After everything I told her?" Davis explained. As Takeru again tried to analyse the expression on his face, he realized that the goggle-head was even more joyless than before.

"Wait a moment..." Takeru answered as he began to realize everything. "What do you've told her?"

Takeru's curiosity grew rapidly up. Daisuke was never an emotionless person, but this outburst of emotion made him curious.

"It's just..." Consequently he explained Takeru the whole conversation he had with Hikari. First Takeru didn't feel it, but with the time his anger rose up. On the contrary, Daisuke managed to stay somewhat calm as he explained the Bearer of Hope everything. Of course Takeru's face wasn't able to hide his emotions. His whole face trembled and his expression showed the loss of his hope. Nonetheless, the Digidestined of Hope tried to calm down, which seemed to work partially for the time of Daisuke's explanation. But suddenly Takeru's behaviour changed rapidly as he finished his speech. The Bearer of Hope wasn't able to understand Hikari's behaviour.

_'Why would Hika reject me? Earlier she told me that she want to protect her friends from the pain that could be made if they were in a relationship, but later she also rejected Daisuke and harmed him madly... Did she really just tried to save our friendship? Was it maybe something personal?'_ Suddenly another thought hit his already confused mind._ 'Probably I have to face it... She just doesn't possess this feelings for me.'_

At this very moment, it was just too much for the Bearer of Hope. The only thought he had in his mind was _'Run.'_

Abruptly Patamon flew out of the tree where he listened together with Chibimon the conversation of their partners.

"Takeru! Please wait for me!" Patamon screamt towards his partner. However, the blonde tried to ignore him. In this moment he wasn't able to control myself. The last thing the cobalt blue-eyed could hear was a quiet sigh from Daisuke.

Back in his mind Takeru knew that the basketball match was about to start in half an hour, but in this moment basketball was one of the most insignificant things to him. He barely managed to breath as he sat down on a snow-covered bench near Rainbow Bridge after a long, exhausting sprint through Odaiba. Suddenly Takeru saw Patamon flying torwards him. The streets were empty due to the now heavy falling snow. Only the powerful light that emerged Rainbow Bridge disturbed the calm, reasurring atmosphere.

"Takeru!" Patamon said to his partner as he arrived on the bench Takeru was already sitting on, "Listen to me, please. I know that rejection is one of the saddest things that can happen to you, but you also have to think about your friends and your family. Everything today went a bit awkward, but..."

"Just a _bit_ awkward?!" Takeru interrupted his best friend. Usually he hated to interrupt others' speeches, but in this moment the blonde hadn't enough self-control to think about stuff like that. "Can you even imagine how awkward I feel? Do you _ever_ got rejected by the most important person in your life? How can you even dare to try to make me calm down?", Takeru screamt on the top of his voice.

As Takeru wanted to continue, he suddenly felt a slight pain in his stomach. It was a shot of air, emerged by his own best friend, who was clearly upset in this situation.

"Okay, Takeru! Just let's make some things clear," Patamon said with a reasurring, but also self-confident voice. Takeru never saw his best friend behaving like this. "Maybe I'm not able to understand what you're feeling now. Maybe everything with Hikari went terrible today, but do you really want to miss _and_ to loose the game just because of this incident? Takeru, you are not harming yourself with this stupid behaviour, which is of course the most important thing to me, but you're also harming your team! You are the Keeper of Hope, thus you _can't_ lose your hope! It is very difficult to see everything today from this point of view, but you aren't even allowed to give up! _Hope never can give up._ You have to remember that, Takeru! You never gave up during our adventures!"

Takeru was really stunned as he heared such words from his partner, since this was probably the one of the most mature things he ever said. Maybe he just knew how to cheer him up due to their strong friendship, but, all in all, the blonde calmed a bit down. Nevertheless, Takeru wasn't yet able to go back to his school again. Takeru was still completely sweaty and outpowered due to his sprint through Odaiba. He just wanted to enjoy the now comfortable silence and the soothing presence of his best friend.

After thanking Patamon for his help, Takeru suddenly realized how late it was. The Bearer of Hope almost fainted. The match had already begun.

"Oh crap! Patamon! We have to go back to our school quickly!", Takeru stated with a voice full of panic. Patamon just nodded as they started to sprint back to my school, hoping that it wasn't too late. Suitable to the atmosphere, it begun too snow even heavilier. But this time, the snow was wet and heavy, just like Takeru's day.

* * *

All of the DigiDestined sat down on their usual places in the crowded sports hall of Odaiba Senior High, of course in one big group. The atmosphere was heated up due to the nearing match. The rather bad and wet air wasn't really hepful for all the athletes in the white sports hall with brown benches and wuth a grey coloured basketball court in the middle. The second generation of DigiDestined brought - just as usual - their Digimon with them. Suddenly Sora asked the question everybody wanted to ask since minutes.

"Does anybody know where Patamon, Chibimon, Daisuke and Takeru are? Takeru should be now warming up with his team and the others should sit here next to us. The match starts in three minutes," Sora asked everybody around him with a concerned voice. A similar question has been in everybody's mind since minutes, but of course nobody had any particular idea. "Just look how nervous the coach is..." Sora explained. Indeed, the coach was very nervous due to the delay of the 'freshmen sensation'.

"Okay, I guess I should call Daisuke", Ken stated.

"And I will call Takeru, I think that something had to happen... But I'm still not sure what it could be", Iori said with a very low, but yet cool voice. Upamon and Wormmon mumbled something to each other, of course nobody was able to understand what they said.

"Hmm, Daisuke isn't reachable now..."

"And Takeru also doesn't pick his phone up. But I just can't imagine why both of them are late now, considering how important the match is," Iori said with a worried voice.

Everybody managed to stay at least partially calm despite the difficult situation, except of Hikari. Only Sora seemed to notice that Hikari was very nervous.

_'Maybe she knows something we don't know? But would it be appreciate to ask her what happened to Daisuke and to her best friend?'_, Sora quietly thought.

Yet only Kari's mahogany brown eyes were possible to show what she might know. _'Probably this is all my fault,'_ Hikari's brain quietly admitted to itself, _'If I hadn't messed up everything, the whole situation with Takeru and Daisuke wouldn't be like it is now, both of them would be here now and everything would be okay. But..'_ Suddenly a realization hit her mind. _'Could it be possible that Takeru is mad at Daisuke?' _Immediately the Digidestined of Light began to regret what she thought. _'Oh, no... Keru is a very intelligent person. He is too intelligent, also in an emotional way, to harm Daisuke or to do such bad things. But why Keru is still missing? Maybe he just doesn't want to see me again?' _Her train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by Miyako.

"I think I'm going to call Daisuke again." And just as Miyako said that, everybody heard how the door of the Odaiba Senior High School's gym was shot up by a spiky-haired boy with a blue and white "stuffed dragon-like animal" on his shoulder. Immediately he sprinted torwards the other DigiDestined. The match started several minutes ago, so everybody was glad to see them. But where was Takeru?

"Sorry for my delay, guys." He was completely breathless. "I went out too look for Takeru after our..." Suddenly he stopped. Daisuke had to thing if he should tell them everything, but a couple of seconds later he went further. "Difficult conversation, but I wasn't able to find him yet... Is Takeru maybe here?" he asked the group of Digidestined, being still breathless by himself.

Miyako was the first person who had the urge to answer his question? "Well, he isn't here. But how is it possible that you know he is missing since you weren't here before the match? Do you maybe know where he is? And about which conversation between yourself and Takeru you do speak?" Miyako asked Daisuke with a voice full of eagerness.

"Oh, well, of course you don't know everything yet," Daisuke said before he tried to expain everything. "Erkhm... I have to admit that we had a little conversation before the match." Hikari's eyes suddenly grew up as her belly began to sting. She knew that there was only one thing they could discuss about. _Herself._ "After our little talk he got mad and ran away. I've tried to chase him but he was too damn fast for us."

"Why you haven't contacted us earlier?!", Miyako shouted at the spiky-haired boy. "We could help you, this would be a much better solution than stupid and pointless chasing!"

"_Oh crap._ Guess you're right," Daisuke admitted sheepishly. "But my phone battery is dead and I also haven't thought about you guys... Sorry."

Nobody knew how far Daisuke told the truth. But almost two quarters of the game were played yet and Odaiba High was losing 26:42. That's why all DigiDestined had to look for Takeru as Sora finally tried to talk to Hikari.

"Hikari, is everything okay? You look very concerned", Sora stated, of course with a likewise concerned voice. Hikari's face expression showed that she was actually really worried in this moment. The mahogany eyed felt as if the whole situation could be made by her, but she hadn't enough urge to talk about that yet. Nonetheless, Hikari had to response, trying to hide her real feelings.

"No, Sora, everything is okay. I'm just thinking as well where Takeru could be," Hikari answered with a slightly insecure voice. Sora was like a big sister to Hikari, but in this moment she wasn't able to tell the whole truth in front of all DigiDestined. Besides, she wasn't sure if he ran away due to her rejection.

After another couple of silent seconds, the door of the gym was eventually opened by a tall, blonde-haired young man.

* * *

_End of chapter one._

* * *

A/N: Okay guys, I have to admit that this chapter was REALLY long, but in my opinion it is just necessary in this moment. (I know how stupid that sounds, but trust me: The story turns out to be more interesting and funny.) I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter!

Reviewes are gladly seen! This is my first fanifc, so even rather critical reviews would be really nice if the criticism is constructive. But I will not read any reviews with a stupid argumentation, like e.g. that this is awful story because it is a Takari. If you don't like Takari's, just don't read this story. Nobody blames you for that.

I hope that I haven't frightened you off eith the length of this chapter! Hope to see ya next time!^-^


	2. Chapter 2: The dark comeback of

_(Edit 01/07/2014: Well, this is the first chapter I've changed some major things. Some parts of the talk between Hikari and Takeru are now quite different, but I tried to keep the essence of their talk. The final scene was included by myself here during editing the fic, since I'm quite sure that this scene is important for the whole fic. The chapter is indded longer now (I've added... Almost 2000 words.)_

* * *

_Chapter 2: The dark comeback of the freshmen sensation_

* * *

A/N: Cheerio guys! It´s me again with the second chapter of my fanfic "The complicated relationship between heart and brain".

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Disclaimers would be unnecessary if I would own Digimon.

I really hope that you enjoy the second chapter!

* * *

As Takeru entered the gym, the Digidestined of Hope supposed that he calmed down. During his sprint to his school he thought about Hikari, himself and what their friendship meant to them. It blew all surroundings. The blonde managed to calm down a bit as he thought about the importance of the friendship he shared with his best friend.

The Bearer of Hope hadn't any time to straighten out his clothes or his hair after his sprint through Odaiba, so he just went in, hoping that he managed to calm himself down. The blonde didn't want any complications just baecause of him as a rather shy person. But as the Bearer of Hope registered the silence as he entered the gym and saw the score of the match, Takeru quickly began to blame himself. He broke under the tension he built up on himself. Unfortunately, his mind again went fully abroad as he recognized Hikari on the tribune and the situation in the gym. Takeru's clear thinking shut down as immediately everything Takeru saw around him, was surrended by darkness.

* * *

The astonishment was written in everyone's face. The tense was even tangible in the crowded and overheated gym as the "freshmen sensation", Takeru Takaishi, entered the gym with wet soaked and messy clothes. Right behind him a white and orange 'guinea pig-like creature' with bright, ocean blue eyes tried to creep torwards the other Digidestined and their Digimon, hoping that nobody would see him due to the game and the arrival of his partner. Unexpectedly, he was right. As Patamon finally arrived at his place in the left-handed side of the hall, he tried to explain what happened. But yet the only thing he mentioned was that they had "several problems", since he wasn't sure if he should tell the whole story without Takeru's permission. After this statement by Patamon the Digidestined gazed Takeru on, being interested what happened to the Digidestined of Hope. However they weren't the only ones. Almost everybody in the crowded gym glared the new player of their team on.

Takeru changed his clothes and wore now a white jersey with five small green stripes on it. On the left side of the jersey the school emblem was printed on in a bright, golden-yellow colour, approximately at the level of his chest. The matching green pants he wore had also the school emblem printed on the right leg. Nevertheless his gaze was undefinable empty. His ususally hope-filled eyes weren't sparkling like usually. Yet almost everybody in the crowded gym hasn't noticed it, except of the Digidestined and their Digimon partners. Takeru listened to the instructions of his coach, or at least it seemed like he would listen to it. The blonde still gazed directly on the wall, of course without paying any attention to the fangirls who still stated his name. The third quarter started a moment ago and Odaiba Senior High was loosing with 26:45. A teammate of him, Shinji, immediately went outside the court as he heard the coach calling for him. Eventually the 'freshmen sensation' entered the court, supported by the loud cheers of some Odaiba Senior High fans, which began to cheer louder and louder. All DigiDestined also tried to cheer for Takeru as loud as possible, ignoring the different glares they recieved from the rather quiet viewers. The only Digidestined who still remained quiet, was Takeru's best friend, Hikari. The brunette's almond-coloured eyes eyes were full of concern and anxiety. As Takeru entered the court she could immediately see the corrosiveness he spread on the court. Aggressively he tried to dribble around the players of Shinagawa High and yet he was quite successful. In three minues he scored nine points in a row, which of cours lead to even louder cheers from all the fans of Odaiba Senior High. Of course the blonde was younger than the other players in his team, but due to his skills he could easily play on the same level as them, or maybe even a bit better. But in this moent most of his energy reserves were still filled, hence he could spread more flexibility than his teammates. The only person whose expression wasn't as cheerful as the others', was Hikari. Hikari seemed to have a ungentle mix of concern and trepidation in her eyes,

'_It looks like a dark aura surrounds him_'_, _her heart shyly to itself. '_Maybe I am only imaging that? No, no... I am pretty sure that a dark aura surround him in this moment. I can even feel it from the tribune._ ' For the other DigiDestined, even for Ken, who once had to deal with the dark, aggresive side of Takeru as he was the Digimon Emperor, it was invisible. But in this very moment, a dark aura began to surround Takeru. Despite the amplification of the darkness around him, only the Digidestined of Light could see the dark aura. This had to do with the sixth sense she and her best friend possessed as the Digidestined of Hope and Light. The darkness lead him to paly even more aggresive torwards the others'. The blonde even began to tackle his rivals in a slightly visible, but also in a direct way, pulling them down with his own chest. His dribblings got faster and faster, up to the point he was almost uncatchable. The audience errupted as he scored again 12 points and two rebounds. Nevertheless, Takeru was still focussed on the match. He even didn't seem to notice the now cheerful audience. But suddenly his little one-man show was stopped.

* * *

A player from Shinigawa High stopped another of Takeru's sprints through the basketball court with a rude foul. He tripped Takeru with his right leg, pulling the Bearer of Hope's left leg over his own right leg, using his left arm as an additional aid to make the blonde fall roughly on the ground. Takeru felt down without any attenuation. At this moment, the whole gym instantly got silent. The Keeper of Light noticed that the Bearer of Hope reached his boiling point after this foul.

At the very moment of his rise, the fans of Odaiba High began to scream at the referee. "Kick that dumbass out of the court!" "Punish him as hard as you can!" "This was pure health hazard!" These statements were even the most neutral of all. The whole gym seemed to be a boiling pot due to the now even more heated atmosphere. Although the snow still was falling on the streets of Odaiba, the whole gym wasn't able to cool down. Not a bit.

The fans of Shinigawa High remained silent at this moment, knowing that the foul played by their player was very rude, however they also began to scream on the referee as they saw what Takeru did as his response.

After his rise Takeru immediately went to the player of Shinigawa High who fould him several seconds ago. Neither he seemed to apologize Takeru for his rude foul, nor he noticed the bleeding wound at Takeru's knee. They just glared each other on. Takeru with a cold, heartless expression on his face and his opponent with a triumphating glare. However, Takeru's hands rose up to the thorat of his foe as he began to choke him in a very emotionless manner. Through the whole hall went a wave of disappointment, since everybody knew about the ordinarily very calm behaviour of Takeru. Everybody was stunned of his aggresive reaction, even the DigiDestined and their Digimon didn't know how to react on this outburst of emotion from the Bearer of Hope. Patamon tried to fly towards Takeru, but he was stopped by Tailmon, who reminded him that they couldn't do anything in this moment as Digimons.

Takeru still choked his opponent with all his strength, ignoring the shocked expression on everybody's faces. The veins were visible on his hands as he put almost all his strength into his arm muscles. Still nobody had any particular idea what to do in this moment. Everybody knew that just two people in the gym would be able to calm him down. Thus the only people which went to Takeru were his coach and... Hikari.

After shaking off his still partly present state of shock, Takeru's coach, , sprinted torwards Takeru, trying to comfort him. He tried to speak with him in a reasurring manner, but, as he noticed that his words weren't able to help, he changed his strategy. His efforts to pull him away from the Shinigawa's player were successful, but yet Takeru wasn't able to calm down. He tried to escape from the grip his coach used against him, hoping to get again to the number '6' from Shinigawa High, who still laid down on the court, trying to breath again after this sudden act of barbarity.

Suddenly Hikari appeared on the court, noticing a very strong dark aura around Takeru. For her, as the Child of Light, the situation was kind of difficult, since light always had to struggle against the darkness. As Hikari stood several meters away from Takeru, she could already feel a cold shiver racing down her spine. It was very irritating for her to see her usually calm, friendly and helpful best friend in such a state. Nonetheless, she knew that she, as the Digidestined of Light, had probably to support Takeru in this moment.

_'But maybe this is the reason I have to comfort Keru right now?_' her heart sheepishly thought to herself. As she stood nearby Takeru, who still tried to escape from his trainer, she suddenly embraced him, whispering something really sheepishly and quietly into his ear. In this very moment, the gym was silent, of course with everybody being stunned by Hikari's sudden action. Even their Digimon partners, Tailmon and Patamon, hadn't expected such a reaction from the brunette. The earlier tangible tension immediately disappeared. Nobody was even able to open their own lips as everybody slowly began to realize what was happening on the court during the most important basketball match of the year for Odaiba Senior High. The coach pulled himself away from both of them, realizing that Takeru suddenly stopped to struggle.

"Keru", Hikari began to whisper into Takeru's right ear with a shy, but also confident voice, "I know how isolated you do feel in this moment." She began to pull herself closer to Takeru, ignoring the glares of everybody in the gym. "But this is not the right moment to show your aggression, not in the gym during the most important match in this year. I guess I have to be honest: I'm really scared in this moment, too. But you have to push the dark aura around you away. Hope can never give up! Hope can never get lost! You have to calm down." Suddenly her heart saw a possibility to take control over Hikari's voice, noticing how insercure her own brain was about her own words. "Please be the old Takeru I lo.." But, just as expected, the attempt failed and her brain took again the control over. "Liked so much for being always calm, honest, hopeful, emotional intelligent and very kind towards other people. Please be my best friend again..." Suddenly Hikari felt a dark aura above them, leaving Takeru's body. This dark aura was only visible for her, thus everybody was irritated by her frightened and suddenly pale face, still gazing the two best friends on. Somehow she managed to pull herself even closer to Takeru. Hikari could feel his wet, sweaty basketball jersey even through the pink top she wore. The brunette felt how her best friend's heavy breath embraced her neck, making herself feel a bit more comfortable in her position. Likewise her burning cheeks did not bother her in this moment. She felt great in the position she was, no matter what the others' were thinking about them. As she and especially her brain began to realize why she felt so comfortable in her position, Takeru began unexpectedly to speak.

"Hika...", he rather whispered in a quiet manner, still trying to avoid her almond brown eyes. "Thank you. Just... Thank you for everything," Takeru spoke with a sincere voice. "I'm not sure what happened during the last couple of minutes, but I feel a burning in my chest, which signalizes me that, whatever I did, it was really bad and expressed a side of me I did want to hide from all of you."

As Takeru finally found enough courage in himself, he lifted his head up, gazing directly into Hikari's milk choclate brown eyes. He saw a very queer mixture of hope, confidence, despair and confuseness in her eyes. Just a second later he realized in which position they were. She embraced him very tight, which made him feel very comfortable. He began to study her face, realizing how beautiful the combination of her deep and sparkling almond eyes and her burning red cheeks was. The little strains of her choclate brown hair, ahich fell directly onto her face, gave Hikari an aura of calmness and reliability. In his opinion the whole combination made her look unbelieveably cute and adorable. Takeru seemed not to notice how deep crimson his cheeks turned as he thought about the beauty of his best friend. Hereupon he began to gaze on her whole body, beginning from her soft, perfectly formed neck and her somewhat large and comfy chest, which was pressed to his own chest, down to the emphasizing green skirt, which was part of her school uniform, and her thin, but also perfectly formed legs. After another quiet moment Takeru began to realize what he was doing.

_'Why do I think of her in this way? This is definetely the wrong moment and the wrong place for that, considering the people's glares,'_ Takeru sheepishly admitted to himself. As also Hikari noticed the glares from the whole gym, she quickly pulled herself away from him and sprinted towards the tribunes, still being glared on by everybody. Of course all the Digidestined looked a bit confused, slightly beginning to realize what had happened.

Quickly she sat down on her old place, next to her school bag with Gatomon inside, still panting heavily from the probably inappropiate moment she shared with Takeru. As Tailmon was about to say something to Hikari, everybody was curious what the referee would do in this moment. Of course he did the only thing that he could do. He decided that it was a Technical Foul by both of them, so the match ended for Takeru and his foe in this minute. After realzing this decision, Takeru quickly went away from the court, heading straight torwards the changing room and still painting a bit due to the amount of power he lost as he choked his foe. He tried to ignore the glares of everybody and also the "Boooh!"-shouts, which were directly headed to the referee for his decision. The fans of Odaiba Seniot High didn't want to accept this decision, since in their opinion the other player was the source of the whole fight with his rude foul, but of course the referee did what every other referee would do. He ignored the shouts as well as he could. In this moment Odaiba led 54:42 and yet they had to play three minutes of the third quarter and the whole last quarter. Although the whole hall again became louder and louder, trying to push their team to an eventual win, the group of Digidestined still was stunned and speechless by Takeru's actions and Hikari's quick, unexpected and partially selfless reaction. Due to their state of shock, the Digimon they remained silent. After a couple of seconds filled by uncomfortable silence, Patamon quietly spoke up, earning the attention from all the other Digidestined and Digimon around him.

"I never saw Takeru acting like this," Patamon quietly and uncertainly explained. "I'm pretty sure that this couldn't be Takeru, I mean..."

"It wasn't him." Hikari interrupted Patamon's speech with a unusually cold, stern, but also stable voice, earning the glares from the other Digidestined. "This was not Takeru. I saw a dark aura around him, but I don't have any idea where this could be from. But I am almost sure that Takeru wouldn't act like this, it was probably some dark force. He even saied to me that he couldn't remember what happened during the last couple of minutes." The group of DigiDestined still remained silent, the only thing everybody did was nodding to Hikari, who was trembling slightly in this moment. More and more strains of her silky choclate hair fell down on her face. She was still very impressed and also a bit scared of the happening. Suddenly the uncomfortable silence between them was interrupted by a loud gong. The third quarter was over and Odaiba led 54:48. Everybody in the gym knew that Shinigawa High now had a big possibility to win the match. The Odaiba High's players were dispirited due to the heavy conflict between their best player and his opponent. Nobody was able to concentrate after that, even their coach was very shocked by Takeru's sudden action. After several minutes of quite mumbling between some players, the last quarter began.

Of course everything went as expected. Odaiba Senior High's players were very unconcentrated during the last quarter, beyond the fans remained silent during the last quarter. The whole audience was still stunned by this outburst of emotion from the most kind player of Odaiba's team that happened in a awful and simultaneously interesting manner. Now the whole gym was surrounded by an anxious, but also fragile atmosphere. Most of the fans had no idea what they should do now. The Digidestined acted like the whole audience, apart from a silent discussion between Yamato and Taichi about the causes of the double dismissal the referee granted and a group talk between Daisuke, Ken, Wormmon and Veemon about basketball rules, which was implied by them since they did want to put their thoughts away from the currently ongoing match.

Suddenly Hikari felt a vibration in her bag. She immediately put her phone out of her bag and recognized the number. It was Takeru's.

_"Hey Hika, listen... I'm really sorry if I embarassed you (again) in front of the whole school. I just want to thank you for your help. Please tell the others' that I´m not ready to talk to everybody after this match. I will talk to them tomorrow (at least I hope that I can do that). But it would be really nice from you if you could take Patamon and meet me at our usual spot in Odaiba Park, 30 minutes after the match. Of course you don't have to do so, but it would be really nice from you if you could walk Patamon home in this case."_

Hikari had a strange feeling in her tummy. It was a mix of overwhelming joy that he chose her to talk with after the match, ignoring everything that happened between them earlier, and a feeling of insecurity and disapproval, since another part of her still tried to deny the warm feeling another part of her had. What would happen between them after these incidentes? Could everything be like yesterday or will their relationship change forever? More and more questiones approached to her, as her train of thoughts was interrupted by her feline Digimon partner.

"Hikari, does something bother you?" the cat-like Digimon asked the brunette. Tailmon immediately recognized the unusual and strange mix of concern and sparkling anticipation in her eyes. It was something unusual for Hikari after the defeat of BelialVamdemon, although she sometimes thought abour everything that happened during their first and second Adventure. "Do you want to talk about something? Has it something to do with everything that happened today?" the feline Digimon asked the Keeper of Light.

"Oh, ehm, well Tailmon..." Hikari stuttered a bit as she shyly and quietly tried to avoid the questions her Digimon partner asked her just a moment ago. Of course Tailmon noticed Hikari's speechlessness, which caused a light frown on her face that minimalized her auburn eyes. "J-just let's talk about this later, this isn't the right place for that, okay?"

The feline Digimon of course had an idea why Hikari's behaviour might have changed so rapidly. "I'm pretty sure I knew what it is about, but I guess you're right."

Eventually Hikari reminded her talk to Tailmon earlier. She probably could read Hikari like a book, just like Hikari could read her Digimon partner. Thinking about the special bond they shared, Hikari could be just grateful to have Tailmon as her partner in this moment, although she coludn't speak honestly with her in this moment. After another couple of quiet seconds, Hikari whispered again a few words into Tailmon's ear.

"Tailmon, could you please tell Patamon that he has to go with us home and that he shouldn't bother in this moment about Keru?" Hikari asked the feline Digimon, trying to avoid the hint of concern she still had in her voice after Takeru's outburst of emotion "But try to tell him everything without getting any attention from the others."

"Okay, Hikari, I'm sure everything turns out well!" the cat-like Digimon whispered back, of course with a hint of reliance in her voice.

Tailmon's positive setting made Hikari more confident. Finally she saw her inner hope rising. This one time, her heart and her brain shared the same thought. '_Maybe Tailmon is right. Maybe everything will be okay, at least I can hope that.'_

Eventually she realized that she hasn't responded to her best friend yet. That's why she began to write a short message to him:

_"Okay, Keru, no problem. See you there!"_ Just 20 seconds after she sent the SMS, she got a response from the Bearer of Hope.

_"'Puh, I´m glad you want to meet me at the park. See you there!"_

After carrying out a meeting point with Takeru, Hikari tried to follow every action on the court. The other DigiDestined tried to do so as well, ignoring the depressed atmosphere and trying to cheer for the team, which had the big possibility to play against the best Senior High School teams of Japan by winning this match. The dam coloured walls seemed to reflect the spiritless aura everybody radiated. Unfortunately the game didn't go very well without Takeru. Odaiba was scoring points only sporadically, on the contrary Shinigawa High scored regularly during the last quarter. As the last fans of Odaiba High stopped their cheering, everybody knew how this match would end. And due to that nobody was shocked how the match eventually ended after 60 minutes on a rollercoaster of all different feelings, mostly of joy, astonishment and depression. Odaiba High lost 66:73, which meant that Odaiba High would not play in the regional finals. Of course nobody blamed Takeru for their defeat, since everybody quickly realized that Takeru's behaviour was very unusual that day. Nevertheless, the fans and the players of Odaiba High left the gym with fallen heads. The depression was tangible. Surprisingly most of the players from Odaiba High were very astonished that Takeru didn't wait for them in the locker room.

"Leave him", the coach blatantly stated after the match, trying to avoid the questions some of his players had after the match. "Pobably he does want to be alone after this match. But who wouldn't act like him?"

* * *

As the DigiDestined left the hall, hoping that their spirits would lift up soon, Hikari explained that she had to meet some of the players after the match for a report she wrote for the Newspaper Club. Everybody accepted her excuse, except of her older brother, Taichi, who insisted to wait for her, thinking that his little sister shouldn't walk home alone in the night. In such moments Taichi showed the overprotectiveness he still had for his little sister several years after their adventures. As if on cue, Sora dragged her boyfriend away, knowing that Hikari would need some time for herself. As Sora nodded towards Hikari, she answered with a sincere, grateful, but as well small smile. Hikari knew how important it was in this moment to have somebody like Sora who knew that the Digidestined of Light wouldn't need her overprotective brother in this moment.

Some seconds later a flying creature approached in this cold winter night. It was something that reminded a two-coloured guinea pig with a orange-coloured upper side and a dam-coloured underneath. His big ocean blue eyes seemed to be quite small in relation to his unusually big, flappy, orange wings. The cold, strong wind wasn't able to slow down his quick flight towards Hikari. A few minutes ago the creature flew away, implying that he would fly to his partners' home, but, just as he arranged earlier with the Digidestined of Light, he flew back to her and her partner as everybody else went home.

"Hi, Hikari!" Patamon greeted her in his typical manner as he landed next to the brunette on the cold, white ground with his paws.

"Hey Patamon" Hikari answered with a rather cheerless voice, "I think we should head towards the park, right?"

"Yeah... Of course. Hopefully Takeru calmed down in the interim", Patamon telled calmly.

"Of course he will be calm, Pata. I mean... Hikari will go with us, so Takeru will be preoccupied by Hikari", Tailmon introduced herself in the discussion with a slightly ironical statement, since Tailmon knew what happened earlier that day.

Patamon quietly giggled at this statement as Hikari shot a really unusual death glare towards them. In this moment she doesn't even tried to hide her crimson cheeks which were filled by the blood her heart pumped through her body with all its might. Suddenly Tailmon realized that this was not the right moment for an ironical statement. Patamon felt as guilty as Tailmon, hence he quickly apologized for his laughter. As Hikari heard Patamon's apology, she quickly blamed herself for such a reaction which was caused just by hearing something humorous from her own partner.

After another apologize from Hikari, which showed how selfless Hikari could be, the rest of their walk passed by very quiet. Nonetheless the atmosphere was heated by the thought of Takeru in everybody's mind, on the contrary to the still cold and windy weather. The howling wind surrounded the streets of Odaiba, but with the time it seemed to calm down.

_'I hope everything is okay with Takeru. I really hope he doesn't blame himself for the defeat of his team'_ Patamon quietly thought. Kari and Tailmon shared similar thoughts, with the exception that Kari's heart began to blame itself for everything that happened that day.

_'What if I hadn´t rejected Hope earlier? Would maybe everything okay?'_ Her usually secure heart showed its usually hidden and rather weak side, although it still showed her selflessness.

_'But... Would it be worth it? Yet I don´t know what will happen when we start to go out. Isn't the risk to high?I could damage my own best friend when everything wouldn't work out.' _Hikari was deep stuck in her thoughts, so she didn't noticed Tailmon talking to her.

"Earth to Hikari! Hikari! We arrived at the park, so... Do you want to go in?" Tailmon asked Hikari with a hint of concern about her partner.

"Let's go. I hope he didn't wait very long for us." After saying that, Hikari went together with Gatomon and Patamon into the park. It was dark outside, however the paths in the park were surrounded by the powerful light of the streetlights which seemed to be even more powerful by the reflections of the light on the white ground. The howling wind calmed down and seemed to be non-existent in this moment. Only small snowflakes were falling on the ground, implying a now usual and calm winter evening. All the different trees of the empty park were almost invisible after the little snowdrifts in the park.

* * *

Suddenly Hikari saw him, sitting on a bench nearby his favourite basketball court and a little river which went theough the middle of the parl. This was their favourite place in their park, thus it was very sensible to meet him there. In this moment it stopped to snow, but yet thick clouds hung over Odaiba, which were obviosly blocking the moonlight. In addition the air was very misty that day.

_'At least the atmosphere is appropiate...'_, her heart stated as she pleased Tailmon and Patamon to stay away from them for a while. Yet she hasn't noticed that they were daiting, hence she was very surprised by their sudden cheerfulness when they left. Slowly she went towards the bench on which a certain blonde-haired young man was sitting.

10 seconds left. _'What shall I say when I arrive?'_

5 seconds left. _'I hope he will tal...'_

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted as she noticed a certain young man staring at her with blue, slightly hopeful orbs. His green jacket with tiny grey elements on the arms, which pictured the school emblem, was partly covered with snow, the white fisherman's hat he still wore as well. He glanced at his beautiful best friend who stood next to the bench, nodding marginally as a signal that the Keeper of Light could sit down next to him.

He sighed. Very quietly, but also noticeable. The uncomfortable silence grew with each moment up. Takeru knew that he had to say something. He invited her to the park and he didn't want to let his best friend feel uncomfortable. But not a single idea reached his mind.

Suddenly the blonde turned around and gazed directly into his best friends eyes as he began to embrace her lightly. She gasped marginally after his sudden action, but yet she felt comfortable, noticing his deep red and burning cheeks. Takeru started the embrace by pulling his own arms around Hikari's slender waist. After wrapping his own arms around the waist of his best friend, Takeru began to pull his left arm a bit upwards as to the point it was on the same level as her still developing breasts. As he finished this action, he slowly began to pull his best friend closer to himself.

First the brunette wasn't sure if she should accept the embrace, but as she felt how perfect her own and Takeru's body suited with one another, she also wrapped her own arms around her best friend. The Keeper of Light pulled her own left arm around the shoulders of her best friend. Silmuteanously Hikari wrapped her right arm around the blonde's head, stroking his messy blonde hair lightly. Hikari rested her own head on Takeru's left shoulder, knowing that this was the first moment she could relax a bit since hours.

Due to the embrace, the silence between the two best friends became more comfortable. After enjoying this comfortable silence for some minutes, Takeru spoke up, knowing that he just had to say something.

"Hikari..." he unusually adressed her with her full name, "I'm just... Sorry. Really, really sorry for everything. I know how emberrassed you must have felt at the gym when you calmed me down. People may think now that we're a couple. I'm jus-"

"What the heck are you talking about?" Hikari interrupted with a emberrassed and shocked, but yet calm voice, although she disliked by herself to interrupt other people. "Why should I be emberrassed? Because of the embrace I gave you?" she ironically asked her best friend. As the blonde responded with a nod and a concerned expression on his face. After getting this response, Hikari explained what she meant.

"There is really no reason to be emberrassed. We are best friends. I have to care for you. Besides, if anybody thinks that we are now a couple, it doesn't interest me anyway. In this moment it was just necessary, so there is nothing to discuss about." Her voice was very calm, yet relaxing for Takeru's mind and his soul. Suddenly he felt even more comfortable with Hikari around him as he broke the hug with her. During the next seconds the concern just disappeared from his now hopeful sapphire blue orbs. But his now slightly more positive expression disappeared as fast as it appeared as Hikari mentioned an important point with a stern and concerned voice.

"But I think that you have to know something about today's events: Maybe I only imagined it, but I'm pretty sure that I saw today a dark aura surrounding you during the match. Except of me, nobody saw this dark aura around you. Even Ken hasn't noticed anything. Correspondingly I am not sure if I only imagined this dark aura." Before Hikari had a chance to go further, Takeru confirmed her thoughts.

"No Light", Takeru began to answer with a stern voice as well, "I can barely remember what happened during the match. The only thing I know is that I wasn't able to control myself. Currently I remember just a part of the match, but I'm really sure that I wasn't able to control my own actions. Thus I think that you are right. I trust you."

As the blonde spoke this words, Hikari's eyes suddenly grew up, while she began to feel a developing warm feeling inside her stomach. _'He trusts me'_ her heart began to scream out of joy. _'After everything that happened today, he still trusts me.'_

"But Hika," he quietly muttered, "I don't know if I should play again with my team after today's match." Hikari was simply stunned by this statement. She had no idea how to react. On the contrary Takeru began to explain what he meant.

"It is all my fault that we lost today and I'm pretty sure that I'm not able to stand the glares of everybody. If I hadn't overreacted like this, we probably had won the match. My personality is still too weak. Probably this is the main reason why we don't play in the finals."

At the first moment, Hikari didn't know how to answer him. But gladly her heart and her mind could find a compromiss how to comfort him after such a self-critical statement by her best friend.

"Please stop to talk like that, silly!" Hikari said with a clear and loud voice. "Keru, nobody blames you for anything. I know how important this match for you and your team was, but you can't just blame yourself for everything! Without you, your team maybe hadn't even reached the playoffs. Everybody is grateful for everything you did for them, the whole school and me as well. Besides, it wasn't your fault, since the dark aura attacked you. So please stop blaming yourself for something you aren't guilty."

After saying this words with a clear and stern voice, that even minimalized the sound of the snow falling down on the leafes and on the ground, Hikari saw something new in Takeru's sapphire blue eyes. It was the sparkle she missed since hours. His whole face radiated now a new mixture of emotion in himself. It was pleasure and hope.

"Hika... I think that I just have to thank you again for supporting me in every situation. In such moments I realize that you are the light in my life", Takeru said with a now more powerful and hopeful voice, embracing Hikari again in the same way as he did before. His best friend accepted the embrace, although she hasn't layed her head down on her best friend's shoulder like last time. But now she was tightening the embrace by pulling herself even a bit closer to Takeru with her own arms.

As Takeru noticed a slight sparkle in her eyes, he began to speak again, trying to ignore her stunning eyes and her incredibly beautiful smile. "Listen, Hika, I know that this day was really hard for you. And I know that this is particularly my fault. Afterwards I am sure that the whole day might passed by better if I hadn't ask you out earlier today" Takeru said, releasing a minimal giggle at the end and releasing himself from the embrace.

As Hikari heard this words from her best friend, she was quite sure that he blaimed himself for Hikari's problems. Of course she disliked that since she doesn't want to see other people suffer because of herself. After thinking this thought, Takeru spoke up again.

"But Hika" he began to speak in a unusual quiet and lightly stuttering manner. "I know that you may can never trust me. Today has been very emotional for both of us, nevertheless I hope that it will have a good end. Can we maybe..." Takeru amde a little break before saying the following words: "Be best friends again? I know that it is impudent to ask you this after everything, but maybe we just ca-"

The Digidestined of Hope was interrupted by a deep hug from the DigiDestined of Light. As fast as light she pulled her left arm around the blonde's shoulder and her right arm around his waist, pulling herself even closer to her best friend. Takeru was quite shocked by this sudden response, hence he needed some seconds before pulling his own arms around his crush. Takeru just felt so well again. After everything she still was able to forgive him everything he has done. There was still a little chance that everything would be like it has been yesterday.

_Almost_ perfect.

Unfortunately, he didn't knew what happened in Hikari's heart in this moment. It broke up in many parts as he said "best friends".

_'Everything went as expected. This day destroyed our possibility to gain a romantic relationship with Keru...' _Hikari's heart bluntly stated. Hikari was in a very hard inner conflict again.

_'Hahahaha, you're kidding, right? I SAVED everything'_ her brain emphasized before continuing its own explanation. _' If we hadn't rejected him, we would be happy just as long as we would be more than friends. Maybe someday we would have to break up with him and... Do you really think that this would be a better way?'_ Hikari's brain rhetorically asked back. Hikari listened to everything her brain mentioned as she finally answered the question the blonde asked her.

"Are you really serious now?" the Bearer of Light spoke to Takeru with a soft and playful voice, giggling slightly. "Of course this isn't your fault, silly. Nobody blames you for anything that happened today. And how it would be able not to trust you? You are the most reliable person for me. We know each other since years. When we met the first time, I immediately saw that you will play an important role in my life. And over the years our friendship developed, which was very useful and brilliant for both of us. With the years I began to realize that you are the most kind, honest and trustworthy person I know. Due to our friendship I got stronger and in general pleased every day, thus it is just logical that I want you to be my best friend. There is no person like you in both worlds. Furthermore we can together destroy the Dark Aura again if it tries to take over you. Together we are too strong for the darkness in both worlds. Remember? We are the children of Hope and Light, together we can destroy the darkness everywhere." As Hikari finished her slightly too meticulous speech, Takeru inwardly screamt one thing to himself.

_'Kiss her! Haven't you heard what she said to you? This would be the perfect time for that.'_ It was like a burning desire he had in himself. But he also knew that he shouldn't kiss his crush in this moment, since this could threaten their friendship again. He tried to avoid any situation that could endanger his friendship to Hikari again. Takeru tried to control himself, but as he saw the delight snowflakes landing on her face, he had only one thought.

_'I can't resist anymore!'_

Her shoulder long brown hair perfectly framed her female face, which perfectly matched her character to the light pink coat she wore. Her cheeks were coloured in a deep crimson red because of the cold snowflakes that landed on her face and because of the embrace she still shared with her best friend. Suddenly he gazed directly into her hazelnut brown eyes. They sparkled even more as they usually did, reflecting the falling snowflakes and his own face. In this moment, she was the personified beauty for Takeru. But did she felt the same for him? He didn´t know. Nevertheless, his left hand made its way torwards Hikari's right cheek, trying to wipe the snowflakes away from it. Abruptly his mind shot down. He was only able to think about one thing: Kissing her. He still was insecure, but he knew he was going to do it. Almost nothing could stop him in this moment.

But, instead of kissing his crush, Takeru saw a tall woman in a dark red coat and a brown beanie that covered a part of her long purple hair walking towards them. Immediately Takeru pulled his hand back to him. As Hikari turned herself around, being surprised by Takeru's actions, she immediately recognized the woman.

* * *

_'Why she had to interrupt this moment? It would be just perfect...'_ Hikari's heart thought to itself, realizing that it was able to take control over her actions as Takeru touched her cheek with the gentle palm of his left hand. But now it began to work again.

"Hey Miyako, what's up?" Takeru was the first one who greeted her. The Digidestined of Hope managed to hide the annoyance he actually felt at this moment.

"Hey guys!" Miyako friendly greeted their friends as she suddenly saw Hikari and Takeru sharing an embrace, which of course had to be commented by her with a devilish smirk. "Oh... Did I interrupt some intim moment between one of the cutest couples in both worlds?" she stated with a now suspicious grin. Takeru and Hikari weren't able to hide a major blush on their faces, which was responded by the lavender-haired girl with a sudden outburst of laughter.

"Oh, I knew that going on a short walk through the park was a bad idea! But I don't want to disturb you two, hence I'm leaving you alone know. I'm pretty sure you want to share more lovey-dovey moments, aren't you? Okay, see you next time!" the Bearer of Love and Sincerity said without any break.

Before anybody could answer the statements of the lavender girl, Miyako sprinted away towards the exit, not noticing the glares from Takeru, Hikari and their Digimon, who were still sitting on a tree nearby the exit. After another little silence, the Bearers of Hope and Light glared directly into each other's eyes, trying to analyze what the other one felt seconds before the kiss they almost shared.

Both glared into one another's eyes, but nobody could see what the other one really felt in this moment. It was a really untypical situation for both Digidestined. Usually they can easily read each other, but in this very moment they had no idea what the other one might think.

According to that, both shared the same thoughts, which included a rather insecure thought, since they had no idea what the other one could possibly think, and a thought of acceptance that they couldn't imply a kiss again, since the other one could possibly not like that. But, nevertheless, both Takeru and Hikari noticed that the other one was blushing. After this realization they began to glare down at each other's bodies, realizing that they still shared a tight embrace. Immediately they pulled themselves back, hoping that nobody except of Miyako has seen their embrace and hoping that Miyako wouldn't tell this to anyone, just one time. But Hikari knew that Miyako would tell tomorrow everybody that she shared such a tight embrace with her best friend, hence she made a mental note to hersef that she had to message Miyako later.

After pulling themselves back and calming a bit down, the brunette and the blonde were just sitting together on the bench, enjoying each other's appearance. Both Takeru and Hikari enjoyed this silent and reassuring moment. Their blushes disappeared with a time, which lead Takeru to continue their talk.

"Erhm, Hika," Hikari immediately turned her head to Takeru, listening to what he was saying. "After everything today... I think we should just talk about what we will do during our winter vacation. That might be the best solution, right?" Takeru asked his best friend with a quiet, trademark laugh.

Hikari giggled playfully, but also happily, back, as a signal that this would defintely be the best solution in this moment. Never the less, her whole heart and even a little part of her mind imagined how it would be if her best friend would've said those three magical words to her earlier. But yet the majority of her mind strictly thought that this would never happen and that, even if it would happen, it would the best to turn him down to save their so valuable and unique friendship. Hikari was a very intelligent girl, especially in questions of Emotional Intelligence, but in questions of love, she was still inexperienced, although most of her thoughts about this topic were mostly influenced by the fear she had from a new situation and from hurting anybody..

Consequently they began to talk relaxed together about everything they head in their hearts, except their true feelings. Thereby they sat together for almost an hour, not noticing a white fleecy cat with yellow glowes, a golden tail ring and a white and purple striped tail and a guinea-pig like creature with gigantic orange wings, an orange-coloured upper half and a white-coloured bottom side that sat down nearby them, listening carefully to every word they exchanged.

"Do you think they realized it yet? I mean... do they realized how much they really care for one another?" Patamon asked his girlfriend with a quiet, hopeful and clear voice.

"Nope, it doesn't seem so," the feline Digimon next to him answered with a reasurring voice. "But at least I have the hope that they will realize it soon. It would fill my hope up again."

"I thought that I am your hope," Patamon quietly muttered to Tailmon, acting as if he would be a bit disappointed.

Tailmon just giggled quietly before answering her boyfriend. "Of course you are my hope, silly," Tailmon stated playfully with a little blush on her cheeks. After letting out a little, lad sigh she continued. "Because of you I found again the hope on real love."

Patamon himself also wasn't able to hide a blush from his girlfriend. As he noticed the snowflakes on the body of his girlfriend, he just had to leave a comment on that.

"If you'll get even more snowflakes on yourself, you'll look like a little Frigimon," Patamon said directly to his girlfriend. laughing still quietly since he doesn't want to get the attention of Hikari and Takeru.

Tailmon herself just giggled passionately after this statement from her best friend. As she turned her body around, she began to stare directly into Patamon's ocean blue, hopeful orbs. The snowflakes began to cover more and more parts of his body, which was now almost fully white. The feline Digimon still glared directly into the eyes of her boyfriend, realizing that he wanted _this_ as much as she.

Another minute passed by glaring lovingly into each other's eyes. Patamon decided to break the comfortable silence by taking the first step. He carefully wrapped his right wing around Tailmon, trying to push himself up as he eventually leaned in. Tailmon accepted the offer by closing her eyes and leaning in as well.

It was a deep and passionate kiss, but yet it also showed the strong bond between the two digimon. Their hearts pounded as fast as they could in their chests as they were pumping blood and adrenaline through their whole bodies. Both digimon added more and more passion into the kiss until they finally broke apart due to the lack of air they shared. Both digimon were panting heavily, but they felt waves of joy spreading through their bodies as they wished that this moment never ended. As both digimon saw each other's happy and grateful face expression, Patamon finally said what he tried to hide since years from Tailmon.

"I love you, Angle of Light", Patamon said with a deep and strong voice. Tailmon expected this somewhat, but, nevertheless, small tears began to stroke down her cheeks. She waited so long for these words and now she heared them finally. Finally she knew that her crush possessed the same feelings for her.

"I love you too, Angle of Hope", she answered gladly to Patamon as they began to lean in again, sharing an even more passionate kiss. Patamon wrapped his orange wings again around her body giving her a tight embrace, which was responded by the feline Digimon with a glad purr.

* * *

The next day started early for Takeru. His winter vacation started yesterday, but in the morning he recieved a SMS that let him fell out of his dreams about Hikari.

Takeru slowly shifted himself up, trying not to wake Patamon. As his hand finally grabbed his cell phone, his eyes immediately shot wide open. It was a SMS from Hikari.

_"Hey Keru, when do we want to meet? Wallace is coming today to Odaiba! He's going to spend christmas with the japanese Digidestined and we shall pick up him from the airport at 3:00PM. When do we meet? Hika."_

Immediately Takeru layed himself down on his bed, having just one thought about the appearing day.

_'Why now? I've had enough trouble yesterday, and I'm pretty sure that everything won't get better when Wallace arrives...'_

* * *

"My first attempt to destroy the Hope by myself failed," a deep, stern voice stated blatantly. "We should probably send out my soldiers. It's time for Plan B."

"I share your thought," another devilish voice answered. Those shadowy creatures shifted themselves up as they began to deepen their talk in a dark, colourless world. "Send the best soldiers you have. Their mission can't fail."

After saying those words, two dark, deep black creatures appeared in front of those two giant evil creatures.

"You called us, Master?" both creatures asked with a calm, but also shadowy voice.

"Yes, you have to fulfill a very important mission," the bigger creature answered with a commanding voice. "My attempt to take control over the One of Hope failed. That's why you have to begin now with Plan B. You aren't allowed to malfunction. Everything relies on you."

"We will execute your orders, Great Master," both creatures answered with the same obedient voice as they slowly disappeared.

* * *

_End of chapter 2_

* * *

A/N: Okay guys, this was chapter 2! I know that this chapter included a rather dark side at the beginning and some Takari/Patagato fluff at the end. Hence I suppose that this chapter was kind of diverse.

Reviews are gladly accepted! Even critical reviews would be nice if the criticism is constructive. I really try to improve my writing and hearing what you guys think about it will be certainly helpful. Hope to see and hear from you soon! ^-^


	3. Chapter 3: Wallace and an unexpected gue

(01/09/2014: Okay, so... I rewrote this chapter quite fast thanks to Winter vacation. Although I could've correct more passages, I decided to correct just the major mistakes without adding any thoughts or descriptions. I didn't want to spilt the chapter and it was gettingg too long, so... Well, that's the result. I realized that I'm quite dissatisfied with this chapter, but I guess that the next chapters will be better.)

* * *

_Chapter 3: Wallace and an unexpected guest_

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A/N: Hey guys! ^-^ First of all: Thank you for all your reviews and visits! They made me really glad.

Disclaimer: If I would own digimon, you would know that.

I think that this chapter includes some little surprise... And of course I hope that you will enjoy this chapter!

* * *

After half an hour of laying in his bed, thinking about what will probably happen that day and responding to Hikari in a unusually formal manner, Takeru finally stood up from his bed. Slowly, but also in a definite way. During the shower he took he still thought about the upcoming day. _'I just hope that things with Hikari and me will get even more complicated when Wallace arrives..'_ Takeru knew that Wallace liked Hikari in a very special way since a talk they had via the Digidestined Chat Forum, which was organized by Koushiro, a couple of months after their encounter several years ago. Thus he wasn't sure what would happen today, especially after the match yesterday. Takeru could just sigh as he thought about all the possibilities. He knew that this day definetely wouldn't be easy.

As he went out of the shower and dressed up, he greeted his mother in their big living room. The living room was painted in a reasurring dam colour and showed the nice sense of style his mother had. In the middle of the room a big grey-black couch filled some parts of the room together with the wooden couch table next to it. Next to the big TV in the middle of the room, the shelves were mostly filled by books. Old ones and new ones in all different shapes and colours. Distinctive in particular were the big ancient encyclopedy books. The rest of the room was filled by all different homey elements, which made the atmosphere definetely more comfy.

"Hi, mom!" Takeru said in a happily manner.

"Hello Takeru," his mother, Natsuko Takaishi, answered fastly. "I'm really sorry, but today I have to finish a new report for our newspaper. That's why I have to go immediately to work. Do you have a problem with making your own breakfast? I literally got the call three minutes ago."

"Okay, no problem, mom. I hope for you that everything works out today" Takeru stated with his trademark hopeful grin, trying to hide his real thoughts about that day. Fortunately, his mother was really busy, so she didn't notice anything different in her son's behaviour.

"Thank you, Takeru. So have fun boys!"

"I wish you a nice day, Ms. Takaishi," Patamon greeted Natsuko as she went out of our apartment with a friendly smile.

"So, Patamon... Do you want to have some breakfast?" Takeru asked Patamon warmly.

"Oh yes! I'm starving after yesterday..." Patamon seemed to say this statement unusually cheerful, what made the Bearer of Hope of course curious.

"Haha, alright. Do you want maybe some scrambled eggs?"

"Of course!" Patamon almost screamed out due to his joyful mood.

"Hey Patamon," Takeru tried to ask him as polite as he could, "why are you so cheerful today? Has anything happened to you?"

"Excuse me? Oh, no, not really." But as Patamon said that, he wasn't able to hide a suspicious grin and a sly blush at his partner and best friend. Instantly it clicked in Takeru's head.

"Oh, now I understand... Has it maybe something to do with Tailmon?" Takeru asked his partner in a unusual direct and suggestive manner with an gigantic grin that filled now most parts of hid face.

"WHAT? Erhm, n-no..." Patamon didn't know how to answer this question in particular. As he saw Takeru's wide grin, he began to hide his face from his partner.

"Come on, Pata, you know that you can tell me everything. At least I'm pretty sure that something happened between you two during my talk with Hikari, right?" Takeru asked calmly, trying to hide his joy about the feelings of his partner.

After letting out a little sigh and scratching his own forehead with his right paw, Patamon answered. "I don't know if it would be the best to tell you, but if you persist on it..." As a reply, Takeru slightly nodded, still cooking scrambled eggs. "To be honest: I feel a bit scared about the everything."

"Are you serious? Why are you scared about your relationship to Tailmon?" Takeru asked his best friend with a concerned voice, rubbing his temple lightly.

"Well, I'm just a bit scared how fast everything goes. I'm pretty sure how much I love her and, as we concerned our feelings towards each other yesterday, I wished that this moment would never end. But now I think about the responsibilities I have being Tailmon's boyfriend. Maybe I'm not grown up enough to handle everything," Patamon explained quietly.

As Takeru heard that, he began to laugh slightly and to pat his partner lightly on his back. "Patamon, listen, you are talking nonsense. Just a second ago you told me that you confessed yesterday your feelings towards one another. If you after years still feel the same for her, I'm sure that you are grown up enough. You matured so much since our first trip in the Digital World that I sometimes still can't neither believe nor handle it. You are the most responsible mon I know, thus you are the ideal boyfriend for Tailmon. Besides, I see how much you love one another since years. Due to that I'm sure that your relationship is strong enough to handle everything," Takeru stated in a calm, but yet relaxing voice as he patted his partner again on his back as a sign of support. Patamon could just answer with a happy glare.

"Thank you Takeru, this is exactly what I needed. Looking back on our united history, I'm maybe mature enough to handle this relationship with my angle. I hope I will see her again today. Maybe she talked finally to Hikari," Patamon stated, sighing again.

"So Tailmon still hasn't admitted that she is your girlfriend?"

"Not towards Hikari. She thought that this might shock her too much. Hence we can't meet as often as we would like to." Patamon sighed once again, signalizing that he has some minor issues with that.

Takeru slightly patted Patamon's back again. "Don't worry, Pata, I'm sure that she will confess everything soon. Maybe she is also a bit excited because of your new relationship. That's a normal behaviour in this early phase of a relationship."

"I just can hope that you are right, Keru," Patamon said, positioning himself for the breakfast as he saw Patamon putting the scrambled eggs on two dishes.

"But now let's eat! The scrambled eggs are finished!"

* * *

"So... You're actually going out with Patamon. Well, I've been waiting for this since years! It was obvious to everybody that you have special feelings for one another. I'm very glad for both of you," Hikari stated cheerfully as she embraced her feline Digimon partner.

"Thank you, Hika. I thought that you may be mad at me due to my new relationship with Pata, especially after everything between you and Takeru, that's why I haven't talked to you about it earlier," Tailmon mumbled rather quietly.

As if on cue Hikari's older brother, Taichi Yagami, suddenly appeared in the living room. His even more bushy hair grew during the last years, although everybody expected that he would cut his hair one day. Taichi wore black jeans and a usual green t-shirt, which showed his now muscular arms. "Hey, what's up ladies? Still having the usual boy problems?"

Unfortunately for both Hikari and Tailmon, the Digidestined of Courage knew where his younger sister and her Digimon partner had their soft spot. As both of them shot straight, emotionless death glares towards Taichi, he disappeared as quickly as he approached. After Taichi's sudden reaction, both Hikari and Tailmon let out a couple of loud laughs, knowing that Taichi was really scared in this moment.

"Thank you Hika, it's nice to see that you still can protect me from your older brother", Tailmon stated friendly, hitting Hikari delightful with her left paw.

"I have to thank you," Hikari quickly replied, "we both know that your death glare is more effective than mine."

"Cat's usual," Tailmon calmly answered, smirking gladly as she thought about that, "but you know that I can be an angle as well," Tailmon mentioned, letting out another little smirk.

"Of course I know that," Hikari playfully replied, "yet you were my angle. But now I have to share with Patamon," Hikari answered, letting out a slight giggle.

As Hikari saw how crimson Tailmon's cheeks were, she started to laugh heavier. But as she saw how uncomfortable her partner felt, Hikari tried to reassure her partner.

"Calm down, please. You know that I just joked a bit. I am honestly happy for both of you."

* * *

The door bell at Yagami's appartment suddenly rang. Hikari was immediately ready to go after several boring hours filled by doing nothing except of talking and toying with her Digimon partner in her apartment. Due to the typical december-like weather, she wore a slightly pink coat with the Crest of Light sewn on the right arm that matched her auburn eyes to her brown winter boots. On her neck she wore a pink scarf that also hid some parts of her chin due to a little cold she had since yesterday. As she opened the apartment door, she saw a tall blonde boy with an old white fisherman's hat on his head. On the hat a little orange-white guinea-pig like creature was sitting. As he recognized the feline Digimon next to Hikari, he immidiately greeted her and the white cat with yellow gloves. But Hikari still gazed directly into the sapphire-blue eyes of the young man who stood next to her. She saw something in his eyes. It was a mix of pure happiness, hope and a little bit of speechlessness.

The young blonde didn't know how to speal properly in this moment, hence he just stuttered several words.

"H-hi Hika," he quietly said, "you look... nice," the young blonde said to the brunette girl as he still gazed directly into her eyes. He tried to be not as overwhelming as he wanted to be.

Both of them didn't notice that their partners embraced each other deeply next to them. There was still a silence between them, but it wasn't an awful silence. Both of them just seemed to enjoy each other's appearance.

"Oh, hey Keru", Hikari muttered, "you look fine as well." Both of them just gazed into one another's eyes. Hikari's feelings were rather mixed, since a part of her tried to avoid Takeru's gaze, knowing how it would affect her. On the other hand Takeru was fully lost in Hikari's almond brown eyes. He just gazed directly her orbs with his own sapphire blue ones on. Takeru just stood before the Yagami's appartment without any direction. Suddenly the gaze of his Digimon partner snapped him out of his trance. After sending a thankful glare towards Patamon, Takeru spoke up.

"I think we should go, shouldn't we? I'm sure it would be better if we arrive at the airport before Wallace arrives."

Those words let snap Hikari out of the trance she has been putting herself in. Instantly Hikari answered, forcing the blush on her face back into her body. "Oh, you're right, Keru. Let's go. Patamon, Tailmon, we told you where you have to go later. Taichi is going to send you later into the Digiworld", Hikari said to their Digimon calmly.

"I think that we know what we shall do. But we're happy to see you two later, right Pata?" Tailmon asked her boyfriend.

"I'm fine with everything. And I promise that we will not break anything in your apartment like last time," Patamon explained. Hikari suddenly laughed as she heard those words from Patamon. Immediately she started to think about what happened several weeks ago when Patamon and Tailmon were alone at her home. During one hour they managed to break two dishes and one jar.

"It would be better for both of you," Hikari answered with a small grin.

"So don't do anything stupid, please," Takeru added to Hikari's statement.

"Everything will be fine. We can pay attention to ourselves and to the apartment." As Patamon said that, Hikari and Takeru said goodbye to their partners and left them alone.

* * *

After several minutes of talking about their presents for the other Digidestined and their Digimon, both of them went into the train to the airport. Surprisingly the train was quite empty, hence they could sit down next to each other, looking out of the window and gazing on Tokyo's skyscrapers. Some people spoke to each other, but yet the atmosphere was relaxing. The train itself was really clean and as it accelerated, some people already felt over one another. The acceleration was probably a bit too fast.

Nobody had the urge to talk anymore since Takeru mainly thought about Wallace and what will probably happen when he arrives. Hikari, on the contrary, still thought about the new bond between Patamon and Tailmon. As she did want to think about something else, Takeru suddenly began to talk.

"Ehm, Hika," his voice was yet calm, but it also showed a hint of guiltiness, "I knew that I should've told you this a bit earlier, but the occasions to talk with you about that were rare, so I think that it would be the best if I tell you everything now. Since yesterday I know something about Tailmon and in my opinion it would be the best if you know it also." In this very moment Takeru became a bit nervous, but he was sure that he had to say it now. "Tailmon and Patamon are a couple now. I hope that you aren't mad at Patamon for this, but I could understand you if you would be mad at him, I mean-"

"Why should I be mad at Patamon? That's great for both of them!" Hikari's voice now became more cheerful.

"Maybe because you have to share your partner now with somebody else?" Takeru replied with a slight grin.

"This isn't a reason, silly, and you know that", Hikari stated, gazing directly into Takeru's eyes. "You don't know how happy I am for them. Both of us knew that this had to happen, right?"

Takeru's smile grew up as he heared this statement from Hikari. "I suppose so. When I first saw Patamon and Tailmon, I knew that the bond between them is special. And when I finally realized how madly Patamon is in love with her, I knew that it would be just a question of time." Both of them smiled to each other, knowing that the bond between Patamon and Tailmon probably would never brake.

Suddenly the great atmosphere between them disappeared due to a simple statement from Hikari.

"But you had some occasions to tell me everything, Keru." As Hikari said that, Takeru's face expression changed. Hikari rubbed her forehead gently as she continued. "I lost some confidence in you. You could've told me this faster, since Tailmon is my partner. You know that this is important for both of us." For Takeru and Hikari, everything remained silent now. Takeru and Hikari weren't even able to notice the clatters from the wheels on the metal rails. The unusually bright shining light of the sun seemed to avoid them in this moment.

"But when I had the occasion to tell you that?", Takeru simply asked his best friend. "Yesterday was a very emotional day for both of us. But I don't have to explain you that, since you know this fact as well as me. We had so many topics to discuss about, thus I told you everything about them today as fast as I could." Takeru also thought about Patamon, who told him not to talk with anybody about his girlfriend, but he didn't want to mention this argument in their discussion, since this would also include Tailmon and might hurt Hikari.

Hikari didn't know how to answer. Her inner conflict again began to rise up. Hikari parentheically realized that her best friend still gazed her on, but she lost the urge to talk with him due to the conflict between her heart and her mind.

_'Why are you trying to argue with Keru again about some little unnecessary things like that? Are you that scared of a new relationship between us that you even try to destroy our friendship with him?'_ Hikari's heart forced on her mind.

Hikari's brain instantly screamt back, forgetting surprisingly about its usual behaviour that included to think about other people in the first place. _'So we should just let him do whatever he wants? It may seem unnecessary, but it is important to discuss about that.'_

But as every pore of Hikari's body realized that Takeru still waited for her answer, she finally muttered something back to him, knowing that the silence between them wasn't as pleasant as usual. Her brain was ready to answer, but suddenly the rest of her body forced it back. Her brain was weakened due to her inner conflict.

"Sorry," Hikari quietly muttered, trying to hide her now crimson coloured cheeks. "I know that you hadn't had any real possibility to talk with me about Tailmon and Patamon. But you also have to understand that I'd like to know if something important happens in Tailmon's life."

As both of them incidentally began to realize that they would arrive at the airport in several minutes, Takeru tried to answer as pleasant as he could. Takeru wasn't sure what to say in this moment. But as he found a solution, his voice became rather insecure.

"I should apologize to you, Hika." As Takeru said that, Hikari's legs began to shake a bit due to the unexpected statement from the Bearer of Hope. "I guess that you're right. You are Tailmon's partner, that's why you should know if something changes in Tailmon's life."

_'So you still think it wouldn't be ingenious to get closer to Keru?'_ Hikari's heart now had a point against her brain.

He always was kind and pleasant to her.

He tried to show just his best sides in front of Hikari.

He always was foucssed on her.

He always knew how he could make Hikari happy.

He just seemed to be the perfect addition to Hikari.

Suddenly, Hikari's brain didn't know how to argue with that. Apparently Takeru looked at her with his big, ocean blue eyes, which now showed a mixture of Hope and calmness. His blue orbs perfectly matched his green longsleeve turtleneck with his white waistcoat that also had little green strings on it. It was a bit warmer than yesterday, therefore he didn't seem to freeze.

Abruptly her thoughts were interrupted by a monotonic voice. _"Next stop: Haneda airport. Exit on the left side."_

Again Hikari realized how long the silence between herself and her best friend remained. Eventually she spoke up. "Thank you for understanding my situation. You always can cheer me up. I wonder if anybody else could help me like you."

And as Hikari mentioned how Takeru could help her in every situation, he smiled with his trademark hopeful grin. But it wasn't an usual smile, it was probably the biggest smile he had during the last months.

"I also have to thank you," Takeru stated. "Without you, a big part of me would be empty. You are also the only person I know who can make me happy just by your presence. This is one of the reasons you are so important to me. I care for you now even more since during our adventures"

Both of them didn't knew what to say or to do now. The only thing they could feel now was the high amount of blood in their cheeks. Should they embrace each other? Or should they just say 'Thank you.'? Both of them didn't know. Suddenly the doors opened. It was like a big relief for the Children of Hope and Light. As they again glared into each other's eyes, they just smiled, leaving the train and heading towards the gates.

* * *

The plain from Los Angeles was supposed to arrive 30 minutes ahead to scheudle, thus both of them thought that it was a good idea to leave Odaiba early. On their meeting point they met the other Digidestined, who had enough time to welcome Wallace in Japan as well. The Bearers of Hope and Light smiled as they noticed Mimi, Jyou, Miyako, Koushiro, Daisuke and Sora waiting for them. The other DigiDestined were all busy, mainly due to their christmas preparations, except of Iori, who had a Kendo lesson with his grandfather. Their Digimon stayed at home or in the Digiworld due to the meeting they organized in the evening.

Everybody friendly greeted each other. Nobody seemed to notice anything different after yesterday's basketball match and Takeru's outburst of emotion. Everybody tried to ignore what happened, hoping that nothing would change after that and that this was something unrepeatable. Because of that nobody even dared to talk about yesterday. Mainly they were excited due to the approaching christmas.

"When will we buy our presents for each other?" Miyako asked everybody around her. The lavender-haired girl wore a short red coat with a pair of black jeans, which gave a hint of her long and thin legs. "Everybody is pretty busy right now. Thus I suppose that the idea of beginning with the whole 'Secret Santa' thing today wasn't as great as you thought."

"But it is probably the best that we waited for the draw since Wallace arrives today", Mimi calmly answered. "Oh, besides, he told me that he will bring a special guest he met through the Digidestined chatroom. Hence we have two more candidates and two more Digimon for our 'Secret Santa' game." As those words left Mimi's mouth, everybody was quiet. Nobody thought that now someone else would appear with Wallace. After a short, pleasant silence, Daisuke forced to ask Mimi something.

"Why haven't you told us that earlier? Now I'm even more excited!" Daisuke's voice became more voluptous and also a bit uncomfortable.

"Isn't that the answer?" Jyou ironically added. This was a very unusual moment for everybody, since Jyou usually doesn't try to make jokes. That's why everybody laughed a bit heavier than usual. Of course Daisuke was a bit insuted as he heared everybody laughing, but somehow he managed to calm himself down.

As everybody calmed down again, Mimi told the real reason for not telling anything about the special guest. The now chestnut-haired stylish girl moved back to Japan two years ago and knew Wallace well from the gatherings the American Digidestined had. "Because Wallace told me that it would be a nice surprise when he arrives with a special guest. But I thought that it'd be better if I tell it now. I don't want to experience how you would glare Wallace's friend on. All of you know that I don't like such awkward moments. So I'm sorry if anyone is mad at me now."

"That doesn't matter now, Mimi," Sora said with her typical calm and relasurring voice. "If he or she also is a Digidestined, it will be even more fun for everybody, especially for our digimon".

Now everybody participated in the discussion who could arrive with him since even Mimi didn't know who the mysterious person was going to be. The only Digidestined who weren't participating in the whole in the discussion, were Takeru and Hikari, since both of them had an idea who could arrive with them.

_'Could it be really possible?'_ every single pore of Hikari's heart thought quietly to itself. _'Could it be possible that they met through the Digidestined chatroom? It isn't excluded...' _ Hikari knew this one person from the stories Takeru told her after their second Adventure. But Hikari didn't knew that Takeru had similar thoughts in his mind. The Digidestined of Hope and Light finished their thoughts with the same statement. _'But... on the contrary it would be the best for us if they would arrive now as a couple. It'd be a big possibility for us.'_

Both of them stood in the middle of the crowd, not noticing what happened aroud them. Even Daisuke's loud discussion with Miyako passed by without any reaction from the Children of Hope and Light.

"You're talking nonsense Daisuke, just as usual!" accidentally Miyako screamt her words out a bit too loud, whereby the people standing next to the group of Digidestined suddenly turned around. "Excuse me...," the Digidestined of Love and Sincerity muttered quietly.

"But you also don't know who will arrive with him, Miyako!" Daisuke's voice also was particularly too loud, but now people tried to ignore the discussion between them. The mahogany-haired boy furthermore explained his thoughts. "Maybe he or she will be a great football player! (A/N: If someone from America reades this: Of course I meant soccer! Haha) Finally I and Ken could play football professionally with some other DigiDestined!"

As the lavender-haired girl thought about instructing him again, she just sighed, rolled her eyes and eventually calmed a bit down thanks to Mimi's help. Everybody tried to calm both of them down and of course Jyou, who is a somehow proficient arbiter, managed to calm Daisuke down. Even although they were now older, the basic strings in the group hadn't changed much yet. Daisuke sometimes was able to show a rather mature side of himself, but he still showed his impolite side mroe often, primarily in fiery discussions. On the other hand Jyou still was the calm spot of the whole group, together with Iori, whereby both of them radiated a calm and relaxing aura.

As the whole group saw how the doors from gate 36A opened, everybody turned around. Nobody noticed neither how long they discussed, nor that the plane already landed. The whole group became instantly excited in a typical way before meeting a friend. The only people who still glared down on the ground, lost in their own thoughts, were the Children of Light and Hope. Surprised by the theory both of them had at the same moment, they glared down at the ground, hoping that this may not happen. Both of them knew that one Digidestined tried to have stable contact to Takeru since years. And now this person could arrive with Wallace.

As the whole group recognized a small, but yet somehow messy bunch of blonde hair with a big-eared hat on it, a smile grew on everybody's face. Eventually Daisuke welcomed one of his best friends in Japan.

"Wallace! Hey bud! It's been a long time, right?" he asked him as they shook hands. As Wallace tried to answer Daisuke's question, Terriermon spoke up.

"Where are all your Digimon? I thought that I'd meet some other Digimon here," Terriermon stated with a tiny smirk and a falling voice. Terriermon somehow remembered a dam and grass green terrier dog with gigantic, flappy ears which were fully covered by the green colour at the end. In the middle of his forehead a dam horn was easily visible for everybody. Immediately he recieved a friendly slap from his partner, Wallace, that he wasn't allowed to speak in the public. Fortunately, everybody seemed to ignore the group of Digidestined.

"We left them at home or in the Digiworld. Everybody is busy right now due to the nearing christmas, hence you have to wait if you want to meet other Digimon, but I suppose to you that you are going to meet our partners at the latest in the evening," Sora answered with her usual reassuring voice.

"If you say so..."

"Oh, I almost forgot someone", Wallace suddenly remembered, "I'll come back in a few seconds. Looks like I lost a friend back there."

Again everybody thought about the special guest. Who could it be? Was it maybe someone they knew? Several questions ran through their mind. Every single question was answered as the whole group recognized a person with long, blonde, curled hair who stood next to Wallace.

* * *

Just in this moment, Hikari and Takeru froze on their places. Fortunately, none of the other DigiDestined noticed their sudden state of shock. Both of them knew that their relationship now was passing a radical change. Thus both of them thought that this is the most inappropiate moment for the appear of the two other Digidestined who might possess special feelings for them.

"Oh, hello everybody!" Catherine's soft voice felt like a 1000 knifes in Hikari's heart. _'Why Catherine had to appear now? She and Wallace are the two most inappropiate people that could arrive now...'_, Hikari's heart quietly thought to itself. Nonetheless, it couldn't deny that Catherine was quite good-looking. She wore a graceful red coat with tiny white elements on the arms. In addition she wore a matching white scarf and usual blue stone-washed jeans. Her white winter boots completed her outfit.

_'See it as a possibility'_ Hikari's heart itself focussed on ignoring what her brain just said. _'We all know that a relationship with Takeru would be too hazardous. Hence this is the possibility to get over Takeru.'_

She sighed. Quietly, but also in a exhausted way, rubbing her forehead with the palm of her right hand. Hikari knew that the conflict was about to rise up again.

Of course exactly that happened what Mimi tried to avoid. Since half a minute nobody answered to Catherine. The whole group of DigiDestined dropped their jaws as they saw Catherine. Nobody had expected the sudden appearance of Catherine, except of Takeru and Hikari, who also remained silent, being shocked this scenario really was about to happen. But yet nobody knew if Catherine was just Wallace's friend or maybe more.

But not just Kari and TK had to rethink everything about Catherine's appearance. A certain orange-haired girl had similar feelings. Sora wasn't quite sure how she should react in this moment. She knew that Taichi used to have a little crush on Catherine some years ago and she knew that her boyfriend even tried to have stable contact with Catherine until he became her boyfriend. Never the less, she wasn't able to hide a little hint of jealousy in her voice, which was really unusual for her.

"Hello Catherine, it's really nice to see you. Taichi and Takeru told us something about you some years ago. Of course we didn't know that you would arrive now with Wallace, that's why I guess the surprise is really succeeded. But you are really the Digidestined Catherine from France, aren't you?" Sora still tried to hide the little hint of anger she had in her voice, not just because of her own really unusual jealousity, but also since Takeru once spoke to Sora about his relationship with Catherine. He told her everything, hence she knew that Catherine tried to stay in contact with Takeru the whole time, even if Takeru tried to ignore her efforts in a pleasant way, just like he tried to calm his 'fangirls' down. Of course Takeru tried not to be rude, and, besides, he did want to keep Catherine as a friend, but not as more. Yet she probably hasn't accepted that.

After their 'World Tour', all japanese Digidestined talked with each other about the people they met. Thus everybody knew Catherine from Taichi's and Takeru's stories. Therefore everybody recognized Catherine quite fast, but, looking on all the reactiond from the Digidestined who have been meeting her at the airport, only Sora, Hikari and Takeru knew how she tried to keep contact with Takeru, her official crush.

Another little awkward silence followed. Everybody in the group still thought how Wallace and Catherine became friends as Catherine answered Sora's question.

After releasing a little giggle, she quietly answered. "Of course I am the Digidestined Catherine from France. Oh, and I almost forgot to introduce Floramon!" Suddenly Catherine turned her backpack around her waist and showed the blossom of a flower-like creature, who had already looked outside the backpack.

"Hello everybody!" Floramon friendly greeted everbody. Floramon tried to be quite silent, since Floramon knew that she had to speak quietly on the airport. "I have never been to Japan before. But it will be interesting to spend christmas with all of you, especially with your Digimon!"

Suddenly everybody turned around to a certain young blonde-haired American, who just spoke up. "Oh, c'mon guys, we are good friends, so why the greeting is so cold-hearted?"

"He is right," Catherine added with a quiet, but also motivated voice. She knew what she did want. An embrace. And none of the Digidestined knew about what the French and the American Digidestined talked about in the airplane and what happened to them hours before.

The Digidestined of Hope and Light still were absorbed in their own thoughts. _'What is Catherine going to do now, since everybody knows that she has a crush on Keru?'_ Hikari's heart was like in a trance, not noticing that Takeru had similar thoughts about her and Wallace.

Abruptly both of them stopped thinking when Hikari noticed a pair of black sneakers in front of her. Takeru immediately realized that a pair of white softly high-heeled winter boots stood in front of her. as both of them looked up, they saw Wallace and Catherine standing in front of them, of course both of them with opened arms, ready for an embrace. Being the kind persons both of them are, Hikari and Takeru accepted the embraces. But they didn't felt anything. No tingling in their tummys. No sparkle in their eyes. No screaming-like outburst of emotion. Nothing. Indeed the Bearers of Hope and Light realized again why it felt so different when they embraced each other. On the basis of that fact, they glared for a moment on each other, being still hugged by Catherine and Wallace. Luckily neither Takeru nor Hikari realized the also missing sparkle in the eyes of Catherine and Wallace. Hikari and Takeru just stood there like trees. They accepted the hug, but they didn't reciprocate it. Suddenly Wallace and Catherine tried to tighten their embraces as Hikari and Takeru pulled them back with little, innocent smiles.

"It is really nice to see you again, Hikari," Wallace said with a enlarged smile. "How are you? Is everything okay with you?"

As Takeru saw the big, somehow friendly smile on Wallace's face and a very small pink tint on Hikari's cheeks, he wasn't able to hide a bit of resonance and jealousy. He didn't know what Hikari might think in this moment.

_'Just admit it. He is nice to us!'_ Hikari's mind tried to retune her heart for the empteenth time. _'Wallace always is nice to us. He tries to act polite in front of us and he seems to be a good person.'_ Every other pore of Hikari's body was already annoyed by this inner conflict.

As always, Hikari's heart argued instantly back. _'And Takeru isn't!?' _Hikari's brain now was silent. _'You know as well as me that Takeru is even more polite, funny, handsome and in general the perfect addition to us! Hope and Light are made for one another! You just have to accept that. It is destiny.'_ Although Hikari was a intelligent person, also in an emotional way, her brain tried to ignore those arguments. But her inner conflict abruptly became unimportant as she saw how Catherine kissed Takeru on his cheek.

"In France we usually greet each other with a kiss on the cheek. You don't mind, don't you?" Catherine asked a rather irritated looking Takeru.

"W-well, it's fine to me." As Hikari heard those words from Takeru, she felt a little tense in her heart to scream out her anger towards Catherine. She had to accept it. A part of her was really jealous because of Catherine in this moment, although she knew that this was a crush developed just by one side. As she did want to glare Takeru on, she noticed that Takeru was already looking towards her, with an embarassed and also guilty expression on his face. Even this welcoming gesture made him feel uncomfortable. Although he got rejected by Hikari yesterday, he still felt uneasy nearby her if somebody showed emotions like that in front of them.

After welcoming also all the other Digidestined with friendly and polite gestures, Takeru eventually had to welcome Wallace and Hikari had to welcome Catherine. Even though all the other DigiDestined were around them, Catherine and Wallace suddenly remained silent, showing a cold-hearted side from them.

"Hello," both of them said in a cold and also vain tone, coincidentally in the same moment. The Children of Hope and Light had no idea how they should react on _this_. Hence they shared the same thought. _'What should I do now?'_ None of them had an idea. They sighed. In the same moment. As both of them suddenly noticed that the other one also hadn't any idea, both of them slightly grinned. Somehow they expected that. Due to that shared thought, they knew what to do. Just trying to relax the mood.

"It is really nice to meet you again, Wallace!" Takeru said cheerfully as he linked his right hand with Wallace's right hand in a powerful way.

"Hello Catherine! I'm Hikari Yagami, although we see each other now for the first time, I'm pretty sure that we will develop a good friendship during the next week!" Hikari's voice was yet more playful than Takeru's, but it also showed her inner light.

Catherine and Wallace were confused. So confused that they didn't know how to react. They just glared Takeru and Hikari on, not knowing how they should respond to such a cheerful greeting, especially after their attempt of being colt-hearted and a bit rude towards them.

The other Digidestined also noticed that something was different. The tense made by their new guests was even palpable. Nevertheless, nobody had the courage to say anything in this moment. Suddenly Catherine and Wallace turned around, trying to get into a conversation with the japanese Digidestined after this awkward moment.

"Okay, I guess that we should go?", Wallace quietly asked the other DigiDestined.

"You're right buddy, let's go!" Davis's voice was full of enthusiasm, just as usual. Eventually they headed towards the train station. After the whole incident nearby the check-out zone everybody tried to loose the atmosphere, except of Takeru and Hikari. Both of them still remained silent after everything. Suddenly Takeru looked at Hikari, which was replied by a glare from Hikari. As their gazes met, both of them smiled. They knew what Wallace and Catherine did, but yet their attempts of being cold-hearted to them failed.

Suddenly Takeru reminded himself of something important. _'It was really nice to share this moment with Hika. But we all know that she does not want to get into a romantic relationship with me.'_ Takeru was still sank in his own thoughts as he remembered his Crest. _'The Crest of Hope... But what does the Crest of Hope really means to me when all my hope disappeares one day? What if my inner crest won't shine one day? Isn't Hika my real hope? But when I maybe lose her to somebody else, will my hope get weaker?'_ Suddenly, but also consequently, his thoughts were interrupted as he noticed how Wallace walked closer and closer to Hikari, as he finally touched her hand and glared on her, trying to show that everything now happened coincidentally.

This was the moment Takeru definetely realized that Wallace and Catherine were just friends and that they did want something else. _Them._ In this moment Takeru had to admit to himself that he was really jealous in this moment. He couldn't deny it. The Bearer of Hope felt how the blood hurtled towards his cheeks, making them shine in a slight tomato red colour.

Hikari laughed. But for Takeru, it felt like a knife that was spinned into his heart with full force. He knew what Wallace intended to do. But could Hikari see it as well as him? His reflexions were interrupted again. But this time an enthusiastic mahagony-haired boy spoke to him.

"Ehm, Takeru, does something bother you?" Daisuke tried to ask his friend in a polite way. As an addition to his spiky hair, he wore a brown waistcoat with blue jeans and extravagant sneakers.

"Oh no, Daisuke, nothing bothers me in this moment." Daisuke knew that the Bearer of Hope lied. But in this very moment, Takeru couldn't tell them what he thought about Wallace. In his memories Wallace was courteous and a person with an open, sincere heart. But why he acted so different? Besides, Catherine also used to be nicer to everybody. Why she showed a rude side of herself towards Hikari? Takeru knew that something was different in their behaviour. Yet he hadn't any accurate idea what probably happened to them, of course except of theír crushes. But in Takeru's opinion this couldn't be the only reason for their behaviour.

He sighed. It was a rather exhausted sigh. As they finally reached the station, he glared again to Hikari and Wallace, not noticing Catherine who stood just behind him and now tried to comfort Takeru. But Takeru still didn't seem to notice Catherine as he recognized Hikari's slight giggle. It was the giggle that probably could make every guy melting down. Immediately. He knew it just too well. Due to that, Takeru again felt a slight burn in his stomach, which converted into the feeling of a knife stabling his whole body. He still wasn't able to ignore his frustration at the very view of Hikari laughing and giggling because of Wallace. However, in this moment Takeru decided that it would be the best to ignore Wallace and Hikari. As he glared in the completely other direction, Takeru noticed Catherine standing next to him with a suspicious and joyful face. Seeing Catherine trying to make him feel comfortable, made him sigh even louder and rub his forehead with the palm of his left hand. _"Hopefully this day will not be as long as it probably will be..."_ he quietly thought to himself.

Eventually they reached the vending machines, where the Digidestined buyed train tickets for the train to Minato. As the group of Digidestined went in the direction of the platform, Mimi, Daisuke and Miyako began a silent discussion. To their luck the long, white-coloured passages were crowded by people, which made it easy for them to discuss withput getting the attention from the other Digidestined.

"Have you noticed it also? Wallace's behaviour is really different today" "Mimi quietly stated. She knew Wallace very well from the time she lived in America.

"I thought that I only imagine it, but if you also see it... Oh, and Catherine also acts a bit weird today, isn't she?" Miyako asked her best friend back.

"Too bad that we all see her today for the first time, except of Takeru. But I know what you mean. In his stories Catherine seemed to be more a positive person. I think that they act just so strange to Takeru and Hikari. Maybe this has a reason," Daisuke quietly mentioned.

"Not just maybe. It is obvious that they act different primairly when they talk with Takeru or Hikari," Miyako answered before putting her left hand under her chin, implying a thinking pose. Her now deep purple hair grew even a bit longer during the past years, but yet she found that her style was accurate to her character.

Koushiro, Jyou and Sora, who were stuck in their own thoughts for a moment, tried to join their discussion as the train finally arrived. Catherine, Takeru, Wallace and Hikari stood several meters away from them due to the efforts of Wallace and Catherine to put them into single conversations, but they tried to integrate themselves and their crushes again as they recognized the train arriving at the airport train station. After boarding the train and sitting down, the whole group started a discussion about the 'secret santa game'.

"How we'll organize the whole game?", Davis asked everybody around him with his interested voice. "Will we write our names down and put them into a bowl?"

"Exactly," Sora calmly answered, "we will organize everything now at Miyako's place. At least we have the plan to meet there in an hour, right?"

"Oh, yeah, you're right. I already forgot it."

* * *

After an rather joyful ride to Odaiba by train, which of course included noticing how close Catherine tried to be with Takeru and Wallace with Hikari, which mainly upsetted Daisuke, although he always was rejected by Hikari, the group od DigiDestined arrived at Miyako's place, 20 minutes before the official meeting time.

During the next couple of minutes, the group of DigiDestined began to discuss in a joyful and enthusiastic manner, mainly about their plans for the winter vacation. Hence nobody seemed to notice how Catherine tried to get with Takeru in a single conversation in the clean, red-coloured apartment. Most of the Digidestined were sitting around the couch table, only Takeru, Catherine, Mimi and Koushiro were standing and having discussions by their own.

"What have you done during the past couple of years?" Catherine asked Takeru in a polite manner, "you know that I never forgot you."

Takeru honestly didn't know how he should react on that. Looking on Catherine's body language, she made him efforts. Takeru of course liked Catherine, but just as a friend. The Bearer of Hope has developed special feelings for Hikari. Just for Hikari. But Catherine still tried to get closer to Takeru, slightly cuddling herself to his right arm and his muscular chest. Her long golden-blonde hair perfectly matched her yellow t-shirt to her ocean blue eyes. As Takeru tried to dislodge himself from this position, Catherine positioned her lips next to his right ear.

_"Vous savezce que je veux."_ Takeru wasn't sure what she said. His French wasn't really presentable, hence he wasn't sure about everything. As Catherine saw his startled and bewildered face, she grinned in a rather devilish way. _'Something is different with her. Usually Catherine wouldn't behave like that. But what is the reason for her strange behaviour?'_ Takeru quietly thought to himself.

Because of that, Takeru, unfortunately, hasn't noticed the death glare Hikari sent to Catherine.

As Hikari saw that Takeru didn't seem to pull Catherine down, which obviously was an understanding mistake, Hikari's inner dividing again emerged from her.

_'Do you realize now what you did? We lost any possiblity for a new relationship and this is obviously your fault! If we hadn't rejected Keru due to your foolish advice, we would be at Catherine's place right now'_, Hikari's heart mentioned. As her brain heard that statement, it had to scream back.

_'I can only repeat that you should be thankful for everything I did! This is our possibility to forget Keru in this way. We have to open our horizon. A romantic relationship with Takeru would be self-distructive! You know as well as me what would happen if we would lose our big love and our best friend,'_ her brain answered coldly.

_'You can't forget love from one day to another. Love isn't just a feeling. It is __destiny__. And you know as well as me who is our destiny.'_ Now Hikari's brain reached its boiling point. Immediately it screamt back.

_'Don't you see what our 'destiny' does in this moment?'_ This statement reminded Hikari's heart how close Takeru was to Catherine. Now he seemed to be even closer to her. _'Don't even try to think about any possibility. Now it is too late to do anything,' _ Hikari's brain stated with a rather depressed voice, as if it started to realize something. Hearing this statement from her brain, her heart collapsed a bit. It wasn't able to argue any more due to the woundings it got in this very moment.

However, Wallace seemed to notice what Hikari felt in this moment. As a reaction, he suddenly pulled himself and Hikari away to a corner of the room. It seemed as if he would know that this was a weak moment of her, whereby her heart was shut down.

"Well, Hikari," he began to speak, "I don't know if you know that, but... I really like you. hence I would really like to ask you if you would go tomorrow evening with me too the cinema and on a little walk through the park?"

It was very unusual from Wallace to ask Hikari in such a direct manner, but in this moment, Hikari wasn't able to pay any attention on that. Everything went just too fast. Unfortunately, Hikari's heart wasn't able to react on that. Thus her brain had the whole control over her. And thereby she could only answer one thing. "I'd really appreciate that."

Hikari began to realize what she did in this very moment as suddenly every single discussion was interrupted by Sora, who reminded the group of something important.

"Hey, guys, I have got a question. Are all your Digimons in the Digiworld at their meeting place, just like you had to tell them? Because now we should bring them over here, right?" Sora asked the other Digidestined.

"We all told them that they should be at their meeting point nearby Toy Town on File Island," every single member of the group replied with a united voice. Even the second generation of Digidestined sent their Digimon to File Island, since it would be easier for them to travel to Yolei's apartment via the Digiworld.

"Okay, we just have to hope that everything works out. Digiport open!" Miyako screamed with a powerful voice.

Everybody turned around to her computer as they noted a big group of Digimon coming out of it. The group of Digidestined stood at a very insafe place. Directly nearby Miyako's computer.

As the group of Digimon eventually entered room, they landed directly on the chests of everybody. Coincidentally every Digimon landed on the chest of its partner, except of Tailmon and Patamon, who landed not on their partners, but on the chest of their best friends.

After the appear of the Digimon everybody layed down on the ground due to the ungracile landing. This sudden action was followed by a gigantic outburst of laughter.

Yet nobody recognized that Catherine and Wallace just stood at their places. Their digimon also laughed with the others, but Catherine and Wallace haven't showed any reaction. The only ones in the room who remarked the unusual behaviour of them, were their partners.

"What is wrong with you, Catherine?" Floramon asked her partner with a concerned voice.

"And why you haven't laughed with the others, Wallace?" Terriermon stated with a likewise concerned voice.

Suddenly both of them laughed in a slightly devilish manner. "Oh, it's really nothing. You don't have to worry about us."

Eventually the group of japanese Digidestined slowly stood up, still giggling about their accident. Finally Hikari and Takeru noticed that they didn't held their partners in their arms.

"Patamon!?" "Tailmon!?" Both of them had the same astonishment in their voices as their gazes met again.

Immediately it was silent in the whole room. Miyako and Mimi began to smirk at the Bearers of Hope and Light and their Digimon. They knew that all four of them were in a quiet embarassing situation, looking on the feelings they developed of each other. Yet none of them knew that Tailmon and Patamon actually were dating, hence they were stunned that Patamon's and Tailmon's cheeks weren't as crimson red as Hikari's and Takeru's.

Both of them quickly exchanged their Digimon, who giggled now in a very loud manner, whereupon they tried to gaze into different corners of the room, earning the laughter from the whole group of Digidestined. All of them knew why their behaviour was so similar, thus even Daisuke laughed with suddenly all the interactions were interrupted by the now cold, emotionless voices of Wallace and Catherine.

"I almost forgot something. I have to call my parents now."

"Me too", Catherine added to Wallace's statement with the same casual voice.

"Okay, never mind, buds! Just talk to them where and when you want." Daisuke hasn't expected that they immediately left their apartment as he answered to them. _'Probably they have to talk about private topics,'_ Daisuke thought before he was suddenly interrupted by two Digimon.

"We have to talk to you about Wallace and Catherine," Floramon quietly said, rubbing her own forehead.

* * *

Outside the apartment, Catherine and Wallace glared down for a moment as suddenly a dark, big shadow appeared.

"Is your work successful?" the dark creature asked with a shadowy voice.

"Everything works great, master," Wallace replied with a cold voice.

* * *

_End od chapter 3_

* * *

A/N: Yep, I know that this chapter was a bit too long. Also some people probably think that I shouldn't represent Wallace and Catherine as bad people. But - trust me - later I will settle everything ^-^

If something in the french part is wrong... I learned only English and Spanish in school, hence I'm not sure if the translation is right. Just don't mind to correct me.

I'd really appreaciate reviews from you, even critical reviews are gladly accepted! I think that my writing could improve a lot if someone tells me what I could do better and what is well yet.

Hope to hear from you soon!


	4. Chapter 4: Dark truths and christmas ant

(Rewritten on 01/14/2014)

* * *

_Chapter 4: Dark truths and christmas anticipation_

* * *

A/N: Hey guys!^-^ First of all: Thank you for your reviews and PNs! It's really nice to have some contact with other authors on FF net.

I know that the first chapters were (probably?) quite long, hence I thought that it'd be better to end that chapter with a cliffhanger. Of course in this chapter some secrets will be revealed.

Besides, this chapter includes also the draw of the Secret Santa Game. Coincidentally I also had a Secret Santa Game yesterday with my Math class and I have no idea what I should buy^-^

Okay, I talked enough about myself, so here is the disclaimer: I'm neither rich, nor Takari and other couples I prefer are canon in the epilogue of Digimon Adventure 02. Shall I mention more proofs that I don't own Digimon?

I really hope that you enjoy my this chapter!

* * *

"Everything started yesterday," Terriermon said, rubbing his neck with his right paw lightly. "Yesterday Wallace's behavior began to change slightly, but during the next couple of hours, his behaviour became even stranger. It was visible by the fact that he spoke the whole time with a quiet devilish voice."

"The same thing happened with Catherine," Floramon explained with a concerned voice, "since a couple of hours Catherine acts really strange. It all happened during our flight here to you. She isn't just as cheerful as she usually is."

"We have to talk with them, immediately!" Davis answered with a loud and a bit annoying voice as he stood up as fast as he could. As he only recieved different serious glares, he calmed down a bit and sat down again.

"I don't think that we should talk to them now," Sora stated, obviously with her calm voice before shifting herself a bit up. "It would be better to talk with them about this topic later, but not today, especially when we consider the fact that they arrived today. Yet we aren't even sure if something is wrong with them. Maybe it is just imagination."

As Terriermon tried to answer, he began to rethink everything. Maybe he really imagined everything? Maybe Wallace's behaviour never changed? Immediately he turned around to ask Floramon what she thought about this statement, however she already answered to everybody.

"I guess that this is also possible. Maybe she was just excited due to our nearby arrival to Japan. On the contrary, I never imagined that Catherine could be even able act so weird," Floramon said with a confused voice after crossing her arms.

"Probably we shouldn't act towards them in a different way," Koushiro explained his point of view. "If we act weird towards them, we will recieve strange behaviour. Hence it would be the best to change nothing."

"Kou is right! We should follow his advices," Taichi answered, giving him a playful slap on his shoulders. Taichi thought that he should just agree to Koushiro's statement in this moment.

* * *

"Do you know what you will do now?" the dark voice asked Catherine and Wallace.

"We know what we will do, great master," both of them answered with an united voice. "First of all we have to destroy the Hope. We are going to talk to you when the Hope is dissolved."

"Great, great," the dark voice answered. "Now go into the room and fulfill your purpose."

Suddenly the dark shadow disappeared, accordingly Wallace and Catherine opened the door and entered the room, earning the glares from all the other Digidestined, except of Takeru and Hikari.

Unfortunately, neither Takeru nor Hikari heard the conversation between the group of Digidestined, Floramon and Terriermon. They were sank down in their own thoughts as they thought about Wallace and Catherine in their own way, making their own opinions about them. Suddenly they also noticed Wallace and Catherine as they glared upwards, shifting themselves in their positions. Both of them didn't know how to react, hence they turned around, having the urge to start a talk with their partners, but they were inerrupted by the voice of Miyako.

"Okay guys, I think that we should do the draw now! Tomorrow will be a stressing day, hence we should start with it as soon as we can!"

"In the blue box you can find the names of all Digidestined. This will be our box," Sora explained. "The red box is for you, our Digimon."

"Oh, that sounds interesting!", Chibimon (Demiveemon) answered to her with a big smile.

"I think that our Digimon should start, right?" Sora earned a lot of nodding heads as a response.

"Ladys first," Gabumon and Patamon said in the same moment. It was visible that the 'Ishida/Takaishi charme' spread on them as they pulled Chibimon away from the bowl.

The first Digimon, who picked a name from the bowl, was Piyomon. After her Palmon and Tailmon picked a name from the bowl. The group of Digimon giggled with one another as they recieved their lots. Finally Floramon also picked a name from the bowl, but she was rather shocked as she recieved her lot, before blushing lightly. Slowly the group of Digimon went away from the bowl, creating enough place for all the other Digimon.

After them all the other Digimon recieved their lots. It was visible that everybody was happy with their fate, so nobody even tried to complain. Patamon sent a suspicious glare to Tailmon, but, to his luck, she hasn't looked back in this moment, whereby she still didn't know who had to buy her a present.

"Okay, now it's our turn," Daisuke said with his voice being full of motivation.

"Daisuke!" Yamato said in an earnest way. Suddenly he didn't know how to finish his sentence due to the fact that he explained everything to Daisuke several times, but to his luck his little brother knew what he tried to say.

"Here counts the same as several seconds ago. Ladys' first!"

Takeru mentioned an important point. He and Yamato earned several graitudes from the group of girls, especially from Mimi, who showed her gratitude especially towards Yamato by punching him playfully on his right arm.

Several seconds later, the group of girls picked some names from the bowl. Immediately they began to chictchat and to giggle slightly, except of Catherine, who looked rather disappointed by her fate, but nobody seemed to notice it, since Catherine put a smile on her face just a second later.

"Okay boys, now it's your turn," Sora stated with a yet playful voice.

Immediately Daisuke's hand went into the bowl. As he picked a card, everybody glared at him in a questioning way.

"Wha... Why are you staring at me?" Daisuke said on the top of his voice.

In this moment, everybody began to laugh. They didn't want to tease Daisuke, but his sudden state of shock made everybody laugh vivaciously.

As everybody calmed a bit down, one by one picked a cart from the blue bowl. Nobody seemed to be discontented as only two carts were left in the bowl. The only people who hadn't picked a name yet, were Takeru and Wallace.

Wallace picked a name before Takeru. As he put his hand into the bowl, Takeru ignored Wallace and glared towards Hikari. She still talked with the other girls of the group. As he recognized her giggle, his heart skipped a beat. This giggle would make his legs always weak. But he also hasn't forgot what happened yesterday. He had no chance anymore to get closer to Hikari. _'At least I can be happy that Hika is still my best friend. It could've been ending a lot worse,'_ he quietly thought to himself.

Instantly Wallace picked a cart from the bowl. As he read the name, his face expression suddenly darkened. _'Our Master will be mad at me,'_ the dark voice in him thought. _'But yet nothing is lost.'_

Only one card remained at the bowl, hence Takeru hadn't had many options. As Takeru read the name that was written down at the card, he grinned with his infamous hopeful grin towards Hikari. He was again stunned by her outstanding beauty. '_Prodigious,'_ he thought quietly to himself, knowing that this was actually Koushiro's usual quote, before sitting down at his old spot.

As Hikari turned around and stared at Takeru, he lost the power to look away. His sapphire blue eyes were still stunned by the beauty of her almond brown eyes. Again his heart skipped a beat, making his knees even weaker.

_'I definetely can't ignore her gracefulness. But thinking about her in this way makes me just sadder.'_ He realized in this moment that he probably never would be able to think about Hikari in a different way. _'But my love can also destroy me. What if I lose Hika because of my personal desires? But first of all, I have to find an appropriate gift for Hikari.'_

But, instead of being surprised by Takeru's glance, Hikari's inner conflict again began to rise up again.

_'Don't you see how he glares at us?'_ her heart stated in a 'isn't-everything-obious'-manner. _'He still isn't mad at us! And now we have to buy a present for him. This is our possibility.'_ Her brain was upset by this statement and immediately argued back, although it also knew that its own behaviour changed.

_'You behave like a little kid,' _ her brain mentioned, _'just because he looks at us he must not be interested in us anymore. Although this glare is radiant, but also cool and handsome, just like his whole personali-.'_ In this very moment her brain realized that it became weak. Of course her heart also noticed the sudden state of weakness from her brain, but, instead of pushing the argument further, her heart tried to soften the whole situation.

_'Have you realized it now?'_ her heart pointed out the obvious. _'It is just too obvious that Keru is more than a friend for us. Whenever he is around us, I went crazy. But now you finally realized it also. Keru seems to be, no, Keru _is _the ideal addition to us. This is our destiny. That's why I still don't understand why you allowed to agree on a date with Wallace. Maybe it is just an imagination, but I can see a slight indication of darkness around him. It has something to do with our crest.'_

Hearing the word _destiny__**,**_ her brain argued back, as if the moment of weakness hasn't excisted. _'Why are you talking about destiny? _Nothing_ is destiny. Why can't we be happy with the current situation? Keru is one of the greatest persons we know, hence it is very important to keep him as a friend. We can't state the risk of starting to date him.'_

_'You're just _so_ stubborn'_, her heart answered venoumously. _'I just hope that you realize as soon as possible that this is more than friendship.'_

Suddenly the whole discussion stopped as Hikari noticed Catherine making her way towards Takeru. She had a slight, mischevious grin on her face. As Hikari saw Catherine standing nearby Takeru, her heart had just one thought. _'Damn it!'_

* * *

"Hi, Keru. I can call you Keru, right?" Catherine said with a hopeful and a bit too high-pitched voice to Takeru.

"Y-yeah, of course," Takeru responded in a resigned way. _'Why she starts to talk with me now? Hopefully it will not make the situation even more awkward.'_

"I have to talk with you. I missed you really much during the last years and, according to that, I'd really like to spend time with you, just with you. So would you mind to go to the cinema with me tomorrow?" she asked him with a suggestive glare.

Takeru was really stunned that Catherine blurted out her question so directly with a yet partially emotionless voice before entering a state of rethinking her question. _'Should I really go to the cinema with her? I mean... She hasn't said that it'd be a date. Maybe she just wants to spend some time with me. And as a gentleman I can't turn down this offer. But... Could this affect my relationship with Hika?'_ As he reminded Hikari to himself, he quickly glared towards her, noticing that she stood nearby Wallace. She talked to him with a hint of concentration in her eyes, which made her look ridicolously cute for Takeru. But as he realized the whole situation, he snapped some words back to Catherine. "No problem. When do you want to meet?" he answered with a serious, but also -to his surprise- partially confident voice.

After letting out a little girly squeal and a little jump on the place, Catherine calmed a bit down and tried to act calm and self-confident. "How about 6:00PM?"

"Yeah, that's an good idea, according to the fact that we have to buy our christmas presents tomorrow."

As Catherine tried to answer again, she was interrupted by Miyako's loud voice, which could go through walls.. "Catherine, Hikari, please come and join us! We have to talk about tomorrow."

"And Wallace, Takeru, we also have to talk with you about tomorrow," Tai said with his voice full of confidence.

Takeru immediately joined the boys' talk, after him also Wallace took part in the discussion. "Okay guys, as I heard from Sora that the girls are planning a 'girls day' at the mall, so I've decided that we should also meet tomorrow. We can buy the presents we need and of course we have to do other things. Is this a good idea?" Taichi asked everybody around him.

Taichi recieved quiet nods from everybody in the group as a reply, except of Yamato, who said a few words as a response. "Sounds great to me, though."

"Okay, I think that we should meet at 11:30AM. Are you fine with that?" Again, everybody nodded. Taichi expected that the talk would be a lot more difficult, hence he was revealed by findng solutions that quick. As they started a discussion what they should do tomorrow, they were interrupted by a squeak of joy that emerged by the group of girls next to them. The group of girls directly stared towards the other group, which has been answered immediately by different glares. Everybody turned around, but from this point the girls' discussion has been heared by the group of boys.

"So we meet tomorrow at 11:30AM here, right?" Miyako asked the bunch of girls around her. As she recieved different responses, which could be summed up by 'That's a great idea' she squealed out of joy.

"Awww, it's been so long ago since we had a girls day! Just us girls together!" Miyako stated with a very cheerful and girlish voice, which actually made Ken chuckle a bit. Miyako immediately recognized Ken's chuckle and turned around. She stared directly into his dark brown eyes, which made her melt down a bit. It was one of those unrealistic moments for both of them. Despite of Ken's tries to calm down, Miyako just wasn't able to stay the tense anymore. She went towards her boyfriend as she put him into a deep, passionate, and also emotional kiss, ignoring the glares of everybody around them. Ken wrapped his arms around Miyako's waist which was responded by the lavender-haired girl by wrapping her own arms around Ken. She wrapped her left arm around his neck before pulling her right arm upwards and around her boyfriend's head. Everybody in the room now stayed silent, turning their own heads away. Only Chibimon dared to break the silence.

"Guys, is this really the right moment and the right place for that?" After Chibimon's sudden question, everybody began to giggle slightly, even Ken and Miyako giggled a bit as their veines were giving a huge amount of warmth to their cheeks atfter noticing where they were.

"Sorry," Ken stated quietly with a rather shy voice. "I think that the one time our desires were stronger then us."

In this very moment, Takeru had just one thought. _'Why things with me and Hika can't be that easy? An unrequired love is not the best way to keep a friendship. But somehow I have to accept the current situation. I hope that at least Hika is happy in this moment...'_

* * *

Several minutes passed by with intense discussions about the plans for tomorrow. It was a time of laughter and joy. Everybody tried to ignore Catherine's and Wallace's yet different behaviour, but it was also notable for everybody that their participation in the discussion wasn't really honest. They tried to initiate them into their discussions, but their plans were suddenly interrupted by Miyako's mother.

"Miyako," her mother chattered through the whole room, "can you please help your sisters in the store? I have to leave right now due to a meeting with a supplier and she said that she needs some help in this moment."

Miyako didn't seemed to be happy as she heared this request, but she knew that she really had to help her sister. After releasing a loud, exhausted sigh and standing up from her position on Ken's lap, she began to announce something to the other Digidestined quietly.

"Okay guys, I honestly don't like to stop our meeting in such a sudden manner, but I probably have to think my sister in the store, I-"

"This isn't important, Miyako, we can understand your situation," Daisuke stated. Although what he said was polite, some people in the room still thought that it wasn't nice from him to interrupt Miyako.

"Okay, guys, thank you really much," Miyako said and turned around towards the girls, "but we'll meet tomorrow right?"

"Of course we'll meet tomorrow! I really look forward to it," Sora answered.

Slowly everybody put their own shoes on before leaving Miyako's place. Everybody thanked Miyako for the meeting at her apartment as the group slowly went towards the door, inhaling the scent of fresh baken cake for the last time. After leaving Miyako's apartment and seeing her sprinting in the direction of their store, everybody giggled lightly. They knew that Miyako sometimes was kept really busy by their parents, but, although the sympathy they all had for her, it was slightly amusing to see her, Miyako, the always energetic and positive girl, in such a state. She seemed to be slightly tensed, knowing that her sisters usually don't call her when they know that her friends are visiting her.

* * *

After some time of walking together and still talking about the next day, the group split apart. Slowly everybody leaved the building with his own, now covered, Digimon. Earlier the Digidestined decided that they should spend the evening with their own Digimon. Everybody left, heading towards their own homes, as only Takeru, Hikari, Taichi, Yamato and Sora and their Digimon remained. Takeru didn't want to go home early, hence he'd walked away from the apartment house where Miyako, Iori and he lived. Besides, his brother told him that he did want to talk to Takeru about a gift for his parents and what they intended to do.

Of course Wallace and Catherine didn't want to leave Takeru and Hikari early, but they had to leave as Mimi was picked up by her father, knowing that they have to return to her home with them. Taichi, Yamato, Agumon, who was wearing a ridicolously looking black coat and Gabumon, who was covered by a rather usual grey jacket, were discussing rather quietly, but as they shared one loud laugh with everybody around them, the rest of the group turned around.

"What's so funny?" Hikari asked her brother with a rather interested voice. Takeru also was interested in their topic, noticing that Taichi's grin went from one ear to another as he glared Takeru and Hikari on.

"Oh, nothing special," Taichi said as his suspicious glare went towards Yamato, who burst out of laughter, which irritated the younger Digidestined even more.

"Okay, I think that we will make our way," Taichi causally mentioned before turning around to his girlfriend and her Digimon partner on the cold street. "Sora, Biyomon, don't you want to come with us?" Sora quickly understood what Taichi was planning, despite his usually protective behaviour. _'Hopefully she says yes,'_ Taichi thought to himself.

"Of course, maybe we should go eat something at burger shot? I'm pretty sure that Biyomon also would like to eat something," Sora clarified, which was responded by Biyomon with a happy nod.

"Can't we come with you?" Hikari asked, "I think that Keru also would like to join you, too."

"Erhm," Taichi made a little pause in his statement due to the fact that he had to think what he should say in this moment. "Nope, this should be just a meeting just of us three, since we'd like to remember old times, right?" Directly after his statement Taichi recieved several nods, even by their Digimon partners. Before Hikari could protest, Taichi again enlarged the distance between his lips.

"Takeru, would you please be a gentleman and walk my sister home?" Taichi asked Takeru with a hint of suspicion before tipping Takeru's right shoulder with his right index finger. "Oh, I forgot, I don't even have to mention that. You would walk Hikari home whenever you can right?" This sudden statement by Taichi made Takeru froze at the place he stood, notwithstanding the fact that the blood still rushed into his cheeks. _'W-why should Taichi mention that now? I-is he trying to...'_ Takeru's thoughts were interrupted as he noticed that Taichi, Sora and his brother already left with their Digimon in the opposite direction. There he stood on the white street in this cold winter evening, next to the biggest crush in his life and his best friend since eternity, Hikari. He didn't know what he should do in this moment, especially considering the fact that he agreed to a date with Catherine just an hour ago. _'What should I do now? Come on, Keru! You have to think! The pause has been too long, just say something!'_ He tried to say some words, but as he noticed that Hikari's cheeks also turned crimson, the distance betweeen his lips immediately went smaller. He lost his own confidence. _'Okay Keru, calm down and think... She also looks emberrassed. Maybe I should talk about our brothers?' _ The streets were empty. In this foggy winter evening, nobody was around them. Just Takeru, Hikari and their Digimon were on the street.

* * *

"Ehm, Hika..." Takeru said with a quiet and partially childish voice, "j-just don't think about your and my brother. You know as well as me that they can be sometimes annoying." Unexpectedly, Takeru found the right words. Suddenly Hikari's lips went upwards, making Takeru grin slightly.

"Why are you grinning at me, Keru?", Hikari asked Takeru now in a playfully manner, despite her shivering. Takeru quickly noticed her lightly shaking voice, thereby he immediately took off his own waistcoat and put it onto Hikari's upper body, earning a surprised shining from Hikari's maroon-coloured eyes. Takeru's instincts kicked in as he noticed Hikari shivering, thus the only thought he had in this moment was to keep Hikari warm.

"I think that we can later talk about some foolish statements from our brothers," Takeru said, parenthetically giggeling and putting his left arm around her waist, although he wasn't sure if he should do this now, but it seemed as if the cold tempereature made his brain inactive. "The most important thing is to bring you home. If I want to be a real gentlemen, I have to care for you." Takeru knew that his statement and his snap action were a bit too direct, hence he had no idea what he could say now. "I, er, I..." Suddenly an idea popped into his mind. "Well, Hika, if you would arrive home sick, your brother would probably kill me."

Of course Takeru hoped that this statement would lose the tense again, but this time it barely helped. He noticed how deep crimson red Hikari's cheeks were, but he knew that it wouldn't help if he would put his arm away from her. Unfortunately, he didn't know what happened in Hikari in this moment.

_'Stop it!' _Hikari's brain thought loudly,_ 'do something else and don't blush like that! What should I say now? Maybe I should...'_

_'You know that you control our actions?'_ Hikari's heart pridefully mentioned, _'and that's why I still can't realize that you agreed on a date with Wallace. We both know that you think just as me.'_

_'Stop! Interrupting! My! Thoughts! If you really like Takeru, just help me!'_ In this very moment her brain was in a state of shock. But it tried to deny what the reason was. Thereby her brain lost its control. Because of that her heart took over the whole control of her actions, at least for one moment. But none of them knew that this was caused partially by Takeru's and Hikari's crest.

Hikari giggled. But not quietly, her giggle became louder and louder, until it became a slightly infantile laughter, which made Takeru really confused.

"I think that you're right," Hikari said with a joyful voice, "but I still have to thank you, honestly. It is really nice to know that you still care about me."

Takeru's heart skipped a beat as it catched the statement. _`H-has she really said that in this moment?'_ he inwardly screamed out of joy. Immediately his own heartbeat became faster and faster, knowing that Hikari stated this with a sincere voice. Now he went for a full attack, ignoring what happened yesterday with Hikari and earlier with Catherine.

"It is also really nice to know that I can still trust you after everything," Takeru stated with a lot of confidence and sincerity in his voice, "Hika, you know that you still are one of the most important persons in my life. I really need you and I can't imgaine how my life would be if I hadn't met you." This sudden statement was responded from Hikari with a direct, trustful look into his eyes. Hikari's eyes seemed to shine like little stars on the already dark road.

Takeru wasn't able to control his own motions and he even forgot that their Digimon still stood next to them. His left arm still was wrapped around Hikari's slender waist, which seemed to be the most beautiful waist on the world for him in this moment. Hence it was easy for him to put Hikari closer to himself and to wrap his right arm around her neck. He tightened the embrace as he noted that Hikari put her left arm around his neck and her right arm around his head, stroking his hair gently. Hikari wore a slightly pink coat, which seemed to be the most beautiful clothing item in the world for Takeru. Around her neck she wore a pink scarf that emphasized her almost purple cheeks and her almnod brown eyes. In this very moment, Takeru had just one thought in his mind.

Stunning.

He didn't know what he should do next. Hikari just looked too stunning and breathtaking in his eyes. But although he wasn't able to think straight, his body knew what it should do. Takeru tightened the embrace even more as he still continued to gaze into the eyes of the auburn eyes of his best friend. He knew what he wanted. He knew what Hikari wanted. _This kiss._ Takeru slowly pulled his head closer to Hikari before stopping several meteres away from her face, of course with a part of him hoping that he would realize what he was about to do and why this wasn't the best moment for it.

"Hikari,", he adressed her not with the nickname he gave her, "you're probably the most beautiful and stunning person in the world. You have been my best friend since years and in this time I realized how perfect you are, not just in a physical way, but also your personality and your positive abandonment. I still adore you, no matter what happens." After saying those words, Takeru closed his eyes and finally leaned in. He waited for this moment since the dawn of time.

Unluckily, in this moment Hikari's still narrow mind took again control over her actions, of course with heavy protest of her heart.

_'So you're still trying to destroy me _and_ the friendship we share with Takeru? You know that I have to stop you, but I don't know what I should do...'_, her brain mentioned. Takeru was probably just an inch away from Hikari's cherry lips as she blurted out everything.

"Tomorrow I have a date with Wallace."

Suddenly Takeru's lips stopped, just half an inch away from Hikari's lips. The cold words emerged Hikari's mouth with a quiet, slightly insecure tone, but it felt for Takeru as if she had screamt it out with all her power. He could still feel her breath on his own lips, which made the words feel like a ton of rocks. The worst-case scenario happened, and his eyes still were closed and, despite his tries to open his own eyes, he pressed his eyelids even closer. For the empteenth time that day, Takeru froze at his place. He didn't knew what he should do, considering the fact that this was probably the most awkward moment in his life. His heart and his brain, which usually are a big unity, were also frozen. Takeru wasn't even able to put himself back from this obvious position with his arms wrapped around his best friend and his own lips showing that he just did want to start a kiss. Hikari also stood there in utter shock, realizing what Takeru was doing and how she stopped him. Fortunately, Takeru was woken up by Patamon and Tailmon, who stood the whole time next to them.

"WHAT!?" Patamon and Tailmon blurted out. In this very moment, both of them again realized that their Digimon partners still stood next to them and turned around, pulling back from the embrace and normalizing their own face eypressions. Even Tailmon didn't knew that her partner had a date with Wallace, hence the feline Digimon was quite shocked. Obviously Tailmon wasn't really glad with that, considering on the glare she gave Hikari. Patamon began to talk to his girlfriend.

"Angel," he began to talk to her with a quiet and understanding voice, "I think that we should leave them alone. You know how difficult things with us have been and I suppose that they have a similar phase right now. It'd be the best for them if we leave them alone for a moment."

Tailmon nodded shyly as she heard this statement of Patamon, and left with him from the place, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek, whereby Patamon's cheeks, just as usual, turned into a deep crimson red.

"We leave you now alone. We'll wait for you nearby Hikari's apartment." Just as Tailmon said that, the feline Digimon left together with Patamon the place, leaving two embarrassed teenagers back.

Takeru and his best friend stood there, trying to avoid each other's glare. In this moment both again were fully aware of what happened seconds ago. They just didn't know what they should do at this moment. _'What now...'_, Takeru quietly thought to himself, _'what can I do now? There is no logical possibility what I could do next. I hope that she soon starts to talk...'_

Takeru still has been sunk down in his thoughts as he gazed up for just a second and Hikari's glare met his. Just for half a second. But yet both of them knew that somebody had to talk now, since this moment couldn't become more emberrasing. After several seconds of incredibly awkward and unpleasant silence, Hikari eventually spoke up.

"Listen, Keru, I really didn't want ot hurt you. It is just... You know how much our friendship means to me. We talked about it just yesterday. I really want to keep our good friendship, especially when I consider the fact that my life would be empty without you. And... Wallace asked me out today, of course I had no idea how I should react. I was just too confused and agreed to it without any thinking. I know that this was really harsh from me, especially after everything that happened just yesterday, but I hope that you can forgive me. I was overwhelmed by his sudden question and I thought that he would leave soon, so there should be no problem. That's why I spontaneously agreed to his purpose. I really didn't want to hurt you and I hope you know that. You still are one of the most important persons in my life and... I need you, Keru. You still are my hope." Hikari stated this with an amazing high amount of confidence and sincerity, which made Takeru even more heart-broken. After some time of rethinking what he heard seconds ago, he was finally able to give a statement, sighing quietly before answering to his best friend's statement.

"No problem, Hika. You know as well that I need you, too." Takeru's voice was of course rather depressed and crestfallen, but he tried to hide those facts as well as he could. "I understand why you did this, because I..." Suddenly Takeru's voice became even more quiet and his tongue became heavy like a thousand rocks. He didn't know how he should put this in words. After another minute of silence, he spoke up again.

"The same happened to me with Catherine. I agreed on a date with her due to the fact that I didn't knew what I should do when she asked me today. This seems to be pretty dishonest, especially when I rethink everything that happened between us yesterday and today, but I... I..."

"I see what you mean. I behaved like you, hence there is no problem. We are in a real emotional mess, right?" Hikari said silently, although she didn't like to interrupt her best friend. However, her inner conflict rose up due to this declaration.

_'No problem? Have you really said that this is no problem? This statement destroys me inwardly and you know as well as me that the same thing will happen with you!'_ her heart screamt towards her mind. But in this moment, her brain wasn't able to answer, due to the concentration it needed for the discussion with Takeru. Nonetheless, every single pore of her whole body was quite shocked that Takeru tried to kiss her, although he had a date with Catherine just the next day. But in this moment Hikari tried to ignore it, hoping that Takeru just did this because of the emotional mess he was since the day before. "But, though, I honestly hope that our friendship won't change because of that. We can still live our lives just like several days ago, right?" Hikari asked the Bearer of Hope, whose hope has been minimalized minutes ago.

"I guess that you're right, Hika," Takeru answered with a still cowed voice as he embraced her lightly. The Keeper of Light accepted the embrace, despite her inner destruction. Hikari tried to lose the now tangible tense, but the ideas in her mind were rare due to her inner conflict, hence she said something simple to her best friend.

"But now we should finally go towards my apartment, right? Tailmon and Patamon probably wait for us."

Takeru responded with a slight nod as they eventually went towards Hikari's apartment. The route took them just five minutes, and although usually it feels like five seconds when they go together, this time everything was different. The walk to Hikari's apartment was never going to end for both of them. The uncomfortable silence grew up as both of them were sunk in their own thoughts, not knowing what to say in such a situation. The inner shock both of them had after their little discussion was just too big. They weren't able to communicate with each other at this evening, although they were still going close to each other.

After several minutes of walking, which felt like hours for both of them, they finally recognized a white cat with yellow and orange gloves and a golden ring on her white and purple striped tale that was being embraced by the orange wig of a guinea-pig like creature with big ocean blue eyes who seemed to be very happy with the company he had.

Both of them noticed the Bearers of Hope and Light which went towards them and tightened their embrace even a bit more. Both of them tried to greet them with a friendly face, but as they recognized their rather depressed and emotionless faces, their own expressions also fell.

"Takeru..." Patamon said quietly before breaking the embrace with his girlfriend.

"Hey Pata. I think that we should go home, it's getting late, isn't it?" Takeru asked his partner with a depressed voice before turning around to his best friend.. "Okay, it was really nice to talk with you, Tailmon, Hika. We'll see you maybe tomorrow, right?"

Hikari just nodded. The curiosity was written in Tailmon's face as the feline Digimon saw what was happening. She gave Patamon a quick kiss and saied goodbye to them, trying to hide her own interest on the whole story between Hikari and Takeru.

Takeru and Patamon quickly left from Hikari's apartment building. After several minutes of walking, Patamon's anxiety grew too big.

"Takeru, please listen. I'm really concerned about you and Hikari, so... Would you mind to tell me what happened? Of course you don't have to tell me anything, but I suppose that it'd be better for you if you would talk about it with somebody."

Takeru flinched at the thought of telling anybody the whole story due to his own brokenn heart, although Patamon already knew almost everything, except of the end.

"Nothing, Pata," Takeru mumbled almost under his breath, "just nothing."

* * *

The morning passed by calmly at the Takaishi's apartment. During the night the snow was falling lightly onto the ground, covering the whole a white, thick blanket. Yet the apartment was quiet, so the only noises that could be heard, were made by a 15-year old boy and his Digimon partner. They were kept very busy by the thought of buying presents for one of the most important beings in their lifes.

"Pata," the teenager called his partner who has been in the next room, "are you ready for today? I mean... Do you know what you want to buy for Tailmon?"

"Of course I know it, Takeru," Patamon answered with a voice full of joy, "I know how important it is to buy a suitable and tender present for my Angle. But do you know what you want to buy for Hikari?" This sudden question of Takeru's partner made the Bearer of Hope gasp. After yesterday's accidents he hasn't possessed enough strength for thinking about this topic. The picture of Hikari cuddling with Wallace was stuck in his head and he had no idea how he could get rid of this thoughts. _'If I won't stop to think about Wallace and Hikari, my brain will probably explode. I have to accept her choice and I have to forget this topic. It just destroys me from inside'_, he thought with a hint of disappointment.

"Erhm, Pata," Takeru looked for apropiate words, but he wasn't able to find them fast enough, "I... I... You know, erhm..." It was really unusual from Takeru to be so nervous. It was as well a new situation for him that he had no idea what he should respond. As Takeru tried to open his mouth again, Patamon giggled slightly.

"Don't think about it," Patamon said friendly to his best friend, "I'm pretty sure that you will find the best present she ever recieved." Hearing this words, Takeru smiled after several hours of showing a rather depressed, unusual side of himself. _'I have to thank Pata. He always is a good friend to me. He always helps me when I need help and he knows how to motivate me. But now he have to go to Hikari's apartment.'_

"Thank you Pata for cheering me a bit up. But now we have to go to Hikari's... Erhm, I mean to Taichi's apartment. I don't want to let the boys go without us!"

* * *

The morning at the Yagami's apartment wasn't likewise quiet. Although Hikari's mother, Yuuko, and her father, Susumu, tried to be patient, the two children of them weren't as quiet. Throughout Taichi's constant planning of the day, his younger sister, Hikari, was grabbing the last things she needed for the day. They collided sometimes due to their busyness, but yet they weren't mad at one another. Taichi also hasn't noticed the difference in the behaviour of his little sister, hence he seemed to be interested in other things as her little sister announced that she would leave the house with her feline Digimon partner.

"Oniisan, I'm going to Miyako now, you know, for our shopping tour. I'll be back early because I'll go outside tonight. I hope that you guys also have a nice day," Hikari said to Taichi and his Digimon partner, Agumon, whose head was stuck in a vase due to his inability to find any more choclate, which made him looking just ridicolous. As she recognized what Agumon did, she giggled together with the feline Digimon next to her.

"Okay, sis, no pro... Wait a moment! Why you'll go outside tonight?" Taichi asked with a voice full of curiosity, mainly due to his brotherly protection. Unfortunately, Hikari left their apartment as fast as she could, trying to avoid her brother in this moment.

_'Now I haven't enough time to tell hime everything'_, her brain concieved, _'I'll tell him everything later.'_

Hikari left the apartment building very fast with Tailmon in her bag, but as she stepped outside the whole complex, she released Tailmon at the ground, since this was more comfortable for her and her partner. Tailmon mustn't hide herself, since she looked pretty much like a cat.

The first half of her walk to Miyako's appartment passed by quickly due to the white, refreshing powder on the streets and the active talk between her and the feline Digimon. But as she passed the third corner on her way to Miyako's apartment, she knew that the lossen atmosphere would disappear quickly. Hikari just remembered that she bumped into somebody else and the next thing she noticed was herself sitting on the ground. Probably the impact was too hard for her, just like for the other person who also bumped down at the ground. As she lifted her head up, she noticed a dam coat in combination with a green longsleeve hoodie. Her glare went furthermore upwards, until she recognized a pair of bright, sapphire blue eyes staring on her, which looked adorably handsome in her opinion, especially combinated with the bunch of messy blonde hair on his head.

"H-hi Keru", Hikari said quietly, "I'm sorry that I bumped into you."

* * *

_End of chapter 4_

* * *

A/N: I honestly haven't planned to end this chapter with a little cliffhanger, but I thought that this would mark a nice end.

Most of the scenes were inspired by the upcoming christmas time. Are you guys excited for christmas?^-^

This chapter also hasn't shown adventure parts, but they will probably appear during the next coupple of chapters.

Some scenes of this chapter, especially the talk between Takeru and Hikari, were a real joy to write. I personally enjoyed this chapter, hence I also hope that you liked it.

Reviews are - as always - gladly accepted!^-^ I'm open to any critical remarks. I really try to improve my writing and reviews are really helpful.

I hope to hear from you soon!


	5. Chapter 5: Division and Reunion

(Rewritten on 01/16/2014: Okay, so... As I rewrote this story, I realized that this definetely isn't my best work. But I'll continue the story, although I know that some parts are just lame. But I'm pretty sure that the next chapters will be better (and... a bit shorter.))

* * *

_Chapter 5: Division and Reunion_

* * *

A/N: Hello guys!^-^ After a long break I'd like to present you chapter 5 from my ongoing story "The complicated relationship between heart and brain"!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to update my fic earlier. I had other projects to do, spent a vacation without Internet and I had to rewrite all chapters of the fic as I realized how many mistakes were spread along the way. Of course I haven't corrected every mistake yet. My English is still too bad for that. But I hope that I've fixed at least all the logical errors.

This chapter will include the experiences everybody had during their shopping trip. But this story will of course start with another little talk between Hikari, Takeru and their partners.

I hope that you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

"W-well, hi Hika," Takeru answered rather shyly. Although he could expect to meet his best friend on his way, considering the fact that he had to go to Hikari's apartment and that Hikari had to go towards his apartment building, he was really surprised and even speechless in the first moment. He hadn't expeted a reunion like that. Thus he didn't know how to react, even after several seconds. Of course it wasn't helpful that Hikari was as stunned as Takeru. In addition, both teenagers were embarrassed as they realized that they were still glancing one another on, looking at the clothes the opponent wore. Hikari wore a new, maybe a bit too tight dam coat with a dam and brown, fluffy belt around it. With that she wore a purple, comfortable scarf and a bright, shining red beanie and gloves in the same colour. However, Takeru wore a green polo shirt with a dark green hoodie and a grey coat on it. Of course his white fisherman's hat also wasn't missing. As two pairs of cheeks turned crimson, both teenagers began to stare towards the ground, not noticing the friendly glares their partners exchanged in this moment. Another couple of seconds passed by without saying any particular word. It was just too much for both of them. Takeru's and Hikari's relationship has been burdened in a very rough way during the last couple of days, hence both of them knew that another conversation could be awkward in this moment and, besides, both of them were in a hurry, so Takeru decided to speak up again.

"I'm also sorry that I bumped into you. I should pay more attention to the people around me, right?" Takeru asked his best friend with a little giggle, raising his own eyebrows a bit. As a response he recieved a similar laugh, which made him continue.

"Listen, Hika, I'm unfortunately in a hurry right now. I think that we should talk later, so do you want to meet me after our shopping trips?" Takeru asked the Digidestined of Light. _'This was definetely not what I was supposed to do. Why I asked her that in this moment?'_ Takeru asked himself, facepalming mentally. It was visible for him and Patamon, who still was sitting in his backpack, that Hikari was confused by his sudden question.

"Well, erhm..." Hikari began to speak, but she didn't know what she should say in this moment. But after another couple of seconds she knew how she should continue the sentence: "S-sure, I'll call you later, okay?" Hikari asked the bearer of Hope. Unexpectedly her brain and her heart shared the same thought in this moment, hence she knew what she should say in this moment. Her heart was too focussed on his response to notice that it actually shared a thought with Hikari's brain.

"That's nice! Then I'll wait for your call. But now I should really hurry up. I don't want your brother and the others to go without me to the mall," Takeru calmly stated. Although he did not want to break their conversation, he knew that he should actually go away.

Takeru still waited for Hikari's response with a slightly uneasy and anxious face expression. But suddenly his face developed a huge smile as he noticed the mental power of Hikari's smile.

"Yeah, I understand your situation. I also don't want to let the girls go without me, so I'm actually in a hurry as well. But it was really nice to meet you in such a unexpected moment, though."

Grinning still as a response, Takeru added another coupple of words. "Okay, so there's no problem. I'll wait for your call." Unexpectedly, Patamon also began to speak up, not able to hide the feelings he developed for Tailmon.

"Goodbye Hikari."

"Goodbye, my angel."

To Takeru's 'misfortune', Patamon's voice was a bit louder than his, so it seemed as if he said something similar. Immediately Hikari gazed into Takeru's oceanblue eyes with a rather startled face expression. Although she was pretty sure that Takeru said something else, her heart still imagined that Takeru said the same as Patamon towards her Digimon partner, who immediately responded with an air kiss that was filled by passion and faith. Instantly Takeru saw that Hikari had no idea what she could say, whereby he also got more troubled. Another couple of awkward seconds passed by as Hikari's lips finally went upwards due to Takeru's startled face. He didn't know that she was mocking him a bit in this moment. That's why in the moment she released a little giggle, Takeru felt a million of rocks falling down from his heart. He expected a rather extensive answer from Hikari, but surprisingly her answer was short and not as confident as Takeru expected.

"Tthat was nice from both of you. See you later."

After releasing those words from the distance between her lips, Hikari turned around and went further on her way, Takeru did so as well. Both of them had a bewildered expression on their faces after this little conversation. According to that, both shared the same thought in the same moment:

_'Well, that was really awkward.'_

* * *

After a quite short walk through the cold streets of Odaiba, which also seemed to radiate an aura of loneliness, Takeru arrived at the Yagami's apartment. Still thinking about his accidental encounter with Hikari, he sighed and opened the door of the apartment complex. Patamon still stood next to him, but Patamon knew that Takeru need to think about some important questions.

Because of his busy mind, Takeru hasn't noticed that he arrived at the Yagami's apartment door. His nose still was red due to the cold wind blowing dircetly into his face, but in this moment he just ignored this fact. He stood before the Yagami's apartment, not knowing if he wouldn't be suspicious or if his own behaviour had changed after everything. Patamon, his Digimon partner, who had a sixth sense that included knowing if his partner was upset, tried to calm Takeru down.

"Takeru," Patamon began to speak with a calming voice, "you don't have to mind if anybody will realize that you have to rethink your relationship to some of the other Digidestined. Because even if they will ask you something, you don't even have to be upset to tell them the truth. You know that the other Digidestined would help you."

Takeru's spirits lifted a bit as he heared this words from his partner. Although he was just able to put a rather small, slightly downhearted smile on his face, he knew how much he needed the encourage his digimon partner gave him in this very moment. After releasing a little sigh, he rang the bell. A tall, young man with a gigantic mahogany-brown bunch of brown hair opened the door. It was Taichi, the 'leader' of the first generation of Digidestined.

"Hello, Takeru," Taichi greeted the Digidestined of Hope who stood right in front of him, shifting awkwardly in his position. "Please come in. Daisuke hasn't arrived yet and we should wait for him, right?" Taichi asked Takeru with a little giggle, knowing that Daisuke would always be late.

Of course Takeru knew as well that Daisuke would be always late, hence he just could chuckle as a response. Slowly Takeru walked into the tidy apartment, earning the glares from all the other male Digidestined in the apartment. After a little assessment everybody smiled towards Takeru. Takeru himself expected a rather long silence, especially considering that he wasn't yet able to talk personally to everybody after his sudden 'explosion' during the basketball match. He knew that he had to do that, but this wasn't probably the best moment. However, Takeru answered everybody's smile with a slight grin which also developed into a smile before he sat down on a red, comfy chair next to the couch. The only person with a mischevious grin instead of a smile in the whole room, was Wallace.

Of course Takeru noticed Wallace's different behaviour, but he wasn't speculating what might have changed Wallace's behaviour. His mind was focused on Hikari in this moment.

Koushiro, who found this silence yet very uncomfortable, tried to speak up, asking everybody around him where they should go, but he was interrupted by a person that literally bumped into the front door.

"Ouch!" everybody in the room could hear this loud voice speaking behind the door of the Yagami's apartment. "I thought that the door would be opened for me."

"Stay calm, Daisuke," another high-pitched voice answered. "You should ring the bell instead of crying unnecessarily."

Taichi, who stood nearby the door, opened it and immediately saw a brown, spiky-haired person with a black jacket laying on the floor next to a blue-white Baby Dragon with small hands and feets.

"Calm down, Daisuke," Taichi spoke to the half-consicious person on the ground. "We've got some time. Just come in."

After some seconds of recieving all physical powers, Daisuke stood up and went together with his partner, Chibimon, into the apartment. As they sat down on a chair next to the big table in the middle or the room, which has been surrounded by all the other male Digidestined in the room and their Digimon, Daisuke and Chibimon let out an exhausted sigh. It was visible for everybody that they drained some of their powers during the sprint towards the Yagami's apartment.

As Daisuke recognized a bottle of water on the table, he immediately took it and drunk the whole bottle, earning many glares from the other Digidestined, which mostly showed a state of speechlessness. Daisuke instantly noticed the glares from everybody around him. Those glares irritated him, making him feel slightly uncomfortable in his position.

"W-why are you glaring at me?" Daisuke asked with a frightened voice, rubbing his own temple and shifting awkwardly on his place. "I-I was thirsty and... I... I..."

After a sudden outburst of laughter by everybody around him, Daisuke realized that they tried to mock him a bit. As soon as possible he calmed down a bit, releasing a marginal chuckle. Several seconds after that, Koushiro spoke up, trying to organize their whole trip.

"Okay, guys," the crimson haired boy explained, "I think that we should organize where we should go."

"Why should we do that?" Taichi answered, showing his partly annoyed and also concerned voice, of course to Koushiro's surprise. "Truth to be spoken, I suppose that we shouldn't plan anything. Probably everybody has his own plans where he should buy his present, so we should split up the group and let everybody go his own way. But of course we should arrange a meeting point." In moments like this, Taichi showed his more responsible character traits.

Kourshiro rethought his own idea after hearing Taichi's suggestion, admiting to himself that Taichi was probably right. "That doesn't sound bad to me," Koushiro answered, not remarking Tentomon next to him, who nodded his head as a approvement.

"But where and when should we meet?" Jyou asked everybody around him. "We also have to mind that our Digimon will also buy presents. So I think that we may need some time."

"How about 2:00PM?" Gabumon asked the group of Digidestined. "Yamato and I already know what we'll buy, so we don't need much time."

Patamon wanted to answer on this statement, but he was held by Takeru, who give him a _'don't try to argue with them'_ glare. Although Takeru knew that Patamon tried to help him, he didn't want to change the others' plans just because he didn't know yet what he should buy for his best friend. Instantly Patamon realized why his partner held him back, whereupon he calmed down.

"So this is set," Ken stated the obvious, "we'll meet at 2:00PM at the Chinese Restaurant in the second level, okay?"

"Sounds great!" everybody answered with a united, yet also happy voice, except of Wallace who still remained silent. To his luck, nobody noticed his stillness in this moment, except of his partner, Terriermon, who immediately spoke to him.

"Wallace," Terriermon talked with a quiet, but also concerned voice before straighten himself up in front of Wallace. "Why are you so quiet and reserved? Shouldn't you be as happy as me and everybody else that we can spend the day with our friends?"

Wallace just put a little, devilish smirk on his face. "I am happy, Terriermon," Wallace answered with a rather cold voice. In this moment, Terriermon began to realize that it wasn't imagination. Wallace definetely behaved different, but yet he couldn't talk honestly with him about that. Terriermon also knew that he wouldn't have any occasion during the next couple of hours, so he decided to drop this topic for the next time. Unexpectedly, the dark voice in Wallace's head suddenly spoke to his body.

_'Don't behave so different,'_ the voice spoke to Wallace, _'Behave like a normal teenager. Be more cheerful. When they began to suspect anything, our whole plan fails.'_

"Okay, so just take your things and let's go," Jyou answered to everybody before standing calmly up and heading towards the door.

* * *

The walk to the mall passed by fast. The whole group was chatting during the way to the mall, hence nobody even noticed how fast they were walking. To Terriermon's surprise, Wallace immediately changed his behaviour as they walked outside the apartment and talked with the rest of the Digidestined. Due to this sudden change of Wallace's behaviour, Takeru was now the only one who was rather quiet due to his thoughts which were constantly forced on Hikari after their sudden meeting several minutes ago.

_'Probably our relationship isn't stable enough to handle everything,'_ Takeru thought, being hurt by his own imagination. _'This was way too much. After all this awkward moments I have to calm my relationship to Hika down. So my present for her shouldn't be too conspicious or too significant. This could ruin our relationship on a even further level.'_

Takeru still tried to overthink his own relationship with Hikari, but he snapped out of his thoughts as he recognized a very loud and cheerful outburst of laughter. It was Daisuke.

"Pal, that was hilarous!" Daisuke stated with a really happy and joyful voice. "Your stories from America are interesting and funny! That's just awesome!"

Takeru noticed that the whole group giggled, of course not as loud as Daisuke, but in general the group of male Digidestined also enjoyed to hear something about Wallace's life. Although Takeru wasn't a jealous person, he was actually annoyed by Wallace. _'But I cannot really blame him just because he has a date with the biggest love in my entire life...'_, Takeru thought, crushing inwardly as the image of Wallace embracing Hikari again appeared in his head. Patamon noticed Takeru's rather depressed state, but he thought that it'd be better to talk with him about that later, not when all the other Digidestined and their Digimon were around him.

_'I really hope that at least Hika has a better day than me.'_

* * *

_'I really hope that at least Keru has a better day than me,'_ the heart of a certain auburn eyed girl thought as she walked next to an orange-haired Digidestined through the white, cold streets of Odaiba, shivering lightly.

Hikari's mood wasn't really well in this moment. After her collision with Takeru several minutes ago, she walked together with Tailmon to Miyako's apartment. Unexpectedly, she was the last female Digidestined who arrived at Miyako's apartment. After excusing her delay, of course without telling them what the real reason for her delay was, the group of female Digidestined went towards the mall. Hikari still rethought what would happen between her and her best friend after their clash. Unfortunately, Hikari became even more depressed due to her thoughts. Besides, it wasn't really helpful for her to notice that she wasn't integrated in the discussion of the group due to her sudden foreclosure. Although Hikari wasn't a jealous person, just like Takeru, she still couldn't put the image of Takeru and Catherine kissing during their date out of her head. Thinking about this possibility, Hikari's heart just shivered. _'I shouldn't think the whole time about Keru. This shopping trip is a reason to be happy! I have to focus my thoughts on something else,'_ both her brain and her heart quietly thought. After making this decision, she turned around, noticing her Digimon partner, Tailmon, next to her. Eventuall Hikari spoke to her partner.

"So, Tailmon," Hikari spoke with a hopeful and interested voice, hoping to forgot her sorrowes. "Where do you want to go in the mall?"

"Well," the purple and white cat-like Digimon spoke to her partner, "I think that I know what I should give Pata as a present." Immediately Hikari froze on her place as she heared this statement by her partner. _'I already forgot that I must buy a present for Takeru.'_ her brain thought, which was followed by another important note. _'I have to find somthing not too momentous.'_

Nonetheless, Hikari still had to answer to her Digimon partner. "Wow, that's great for you! Such little things show how great the connection between you is. But, on the other hand, Keru and I knew since years that the bond between you is special."

Tailmon just snickered as a response, realizing together with Hikari that they already arrived at Odaiba Mall. It was a gigantic, new built complex with a vitreous front and modern stores in it. It was known to be one of the most modern shopping centres in Japan, but yet it also was known for its not too high prices.

The group of girls stood before the really well filled mall. Loads of people made their way towards the entrance, mainly due to the nearing christmas. After putting their Digimon into their bags, the group of Digidestined made their way towards the entrance. The chill of cold outside the shopping centre, which has been combinated with a cold wind from the west and the typical scent of cars, has been replaced immediately as they entered the gigantic mall. A strong, hot wind blew them directly into their faces, filled with the different scents of a perfum store nearby the entrance. The radiator showed its might by lifting the temparature in the whole mall on a ridicolously high level. The group of Digidestined of course were affected by the heat, thus every single person took off their scarfs and hats.

"So that's the new Odaiba Mall," Mimi mentioned. She visited several similar shopping centres in America, but it was a fully new situation for her to se such a temple of comsumption in the middle of Odaiba.

"I've never expected to see something like that in Japan," Palmon added, putting her head out of Mimi's enourmous handbag and recieving a 'you aren't allowed to spek here so loud' glare by Mimi.

"Me neither," Catherine added, completely against Hikari's expectations. The Bearer of Light expected that Catherine wouldn't comment on everything the others said, but the direct opposite case happened. She showed a rather unusual and outgoing side of herself.

After another couple of seconds, Miyako summarized again where they should meet after some hours. "Okay girls, so.. Now we split up. Just as we negotiated before, we'll meet at 2:00PM at the Chinese Restaurant in the second level. But Mimi, I also need to buy some new clothes for me. Would you mind to look for something new with me?"

As fast as a lightning, Mimi's eyes began to sparkle like little stars. Mimi honestly enjoyed to give fashion advices, especially to her best friends. According to that, she had just one logical response. "Of course I'd like to! In my opinion we should also take the other girls with us, but maybe it'll be a real surprise for them to see you in your new clothes after buying them. So let's go! We'll see you later!"

Without any break, Mimi pulled Miyako and the bag with her Digimon partner away from Catherine and the Children of Love and Light, who now were giggeling slightly due to Mimi's sudden reaction.

"Okay, Catherine and Hikari." Sora spoke to the younger Digidestined with a unusually nervous voice. "I think that I have to find my present for Taichi by my own. So I'll see you later!"

Immediately Sora went away, leaving a stunned Hikari and an amused Catherine back. Instantly the devilish voice spoke to Catherine. _'Now start to punish her for everything she did.'_

"Listen, Hikari," Catherine spoke to the auburn eyed girl next to her in a quiet tone. "I know what I'll buy for the person I recieved. Do you have any idea or are you nervous about it?"

This sudden and also slightly impolite question made Hikari shiver and grinding her teeth. Yet her heart and her mind wasn't a union, hence she already was divided ínwardly.

_'W-why should she ask me if I am nervous?_' Hikari's brain tensely thought. _'There has to be a logical explanation for that.'_

_'Maybe it really has to do something with the Dark Powers. This would be a logical explanation for the darkness I sense sometimes around her, but I'm not sure yet,'_ Hikari's heart thought. Her brain immediately snapped back.

_'Don't think about possibilities! Just think about a good response for Catherine!'_

Just a second later, Hikari realized that Catherine still waited for a response. The slightly too long pause in her answer wasn't really helpful in this moment. Therefore Hikari decided that she should tell a part of the truth.

"I'm not sure yet," she spoke with a quiet and partially inconfident voice to the French Digidestined next to her. "I have several ideas in my mind, but, considering how important the friendship to this certain person is for me, I have to rethink everything again."

"Oh, I'm so sorry for you," Catherine answered with a put-on voice, which developed into a rather devilish one. To Hikari's fortune, the devilish voice commanded to lie to Hikari. "At least you don't have to buy a present for your _best _friend. I'm pretty sure that Keru will enjoy what I've bought for him."

This was probably one of the weirdest moments in Hikari's life, although she've experienced a lot of them being in the Digiworld quite often. Catherine's courageous face expression irritated her even a bit more, whereby she was just able to laugh. Loud. Very loud. After a couple of seconds, Hikari finally calmed down, gazing directly into Catherine's ocean blue eyes, which released an even more confused expression than Hikari's auburn ones did several seconds ago. Tailmon even put her head out of the bag, being not sure if she maybe just misheared Catherine and ignoring that she should hide in the mall. The feline Digimon was really surprised by Catherine's statement. Only Floramon still remained in her bag. Eventually Hikari spoke up.

"Are you really sure of that?" Hikari asked a now insecure Catherine, putting a piece of paper out of her sleeve. Somebody wrote a word on this piece of paper.

_'Takeru.'_

As Catherine read the card, she immediately froze on her place. The devilish voice, who tempted her to that, was silent as well. A short, but also really embarassing, silence followed these sudden action. The silence was ended by Catherine, who finally found some words.

"I-I, erhm, I said it in the wrong way," Catherine added with a now shivering voice, of course to Hikari's surprise. "I don't have to buy him a present, but I want to. Today we're going on a date and I hope that this will turn out into a relationship. Hence it is logical that I also buy a present for Keru. But now I don't have enough time to talk about that, so we'll see you later."

After saying this words, Catherine immediately left the meeting point with Floramon in her tight backpack, leaving a confused Hikari and her partner back. None of them had expected that this trip would consider such a discussion, but, nonetheless, Hikari felt more confidence in herself after this discussion.

_'That's what I really needed. Now I have to find finally a present for Keru! Oh, but first I have to ask Tailmon what she wants to buy for Patamon.'_

* * *

The boys' day at the mall went by a bit more fluent. They've decided to spend the day together, considering the fact that they did want to go to the same stores. The whole mall was still crowded by bunces of people from Tokio, Japan in general and even from other countries all other the world. The mall was decorated with bright shining stars that partially looked like the Crest of Hope (a shooting star with five little triangles on the top), which perfectly harmonized with the clean facades of all the different stores in the whole mall, which mainly included all types of clothing items. The scent of fresh vegtables mixed with the stench of old fryer grease created an undefinable scent that was even stronger than the aroma of the freshly baken Christmas cookies. Nevertheless, the group of male Digidestined went on their way, ignoring the crowds of people next to them.

Yet they visited a typical clothing store, a store with different souvenirs and gadgets from all other the world, an electronic store and a gigantic supermarket. Everybody was supposed to buy or to make some present by himself for less than 2750 ¥, since this was the limit they set, and yet everybody was successful. Even all the Digimon were very succesful during their shopping trip. Because of that the Digimon were in general happy after an hour in the mall, despite the fact that they had to spend the time rather hidden, except of Agumon and Gabumon, who were too big for the bags their partners had. That's why they had to be covered under sweaters and why they had to say that they were participants of a Costume Contest. Nevertheless, both of them recieved different glares from the crowd, despite the fact that they were almost invisible due to the high amount of people in the mall. As Agumon's leaf green eyes met the ruby red orbs of Gabumon, both of them knew that the other one felt as uncomfortable as himself due to the glares they recieved. Although they knew that the other Digimon hadn't a better role, being hidden in the bags and backpacks of the other Digidestined, they haven't enjoyed to be in the center of attention. Nonetheless, this doesn't changed the fact that they weren't allowed to speak, since probably some people could suspect something.

Their human partners weren't as succesful as the Digimon. This especially considered Taichi, who had no idea what he could buy for his girlfriend, and Ken, who was stuck in a similar situation, considering that he wasn't sure if his present for Miyako was momentous enough. The third one without any present was - obviously - Takeru.

Takeru visited as many shops as the other male Digidestined, but, never the less, he hadn't any idea what he could buy for his cruch. None of the other Digidestined knew whom he was supposed to buy a present, hence they wasn't able to help him and opened a discussion about another topic, sitting down on a bench nearby the less crowded pond with Koi fishes in the middle of the mall. Time passed by with a discussion about different memories they shared about the Digiworld and all the other worlds they visited, even Wallace shared his own experiences. The only ones who still were in a hurry, were Taichi and Ken. Even Takeru seemed to be silent due to the absent state of his mind. After sitting a couple of minutes together with all the other male Digidestined on a bench, Ken and Taichi decided to leave, together with their Digimon partners.

"Okay guys, I think that Ken and I have to buy some stuff. We should find something more important for the persons we have to buy a present," Taichi stated, earning nods and approvales by thumbs up from the other Digidestined. Unexpectedly, Taichi rotated his head, glaring directly Takeru and his bunch of golden messy hair on.

"Takeru, don't you want to come with us? You haven't buied anything as well," Taichi explained with a lot of persuasion in his voice that Takeru would join them.

Takeru just lifted his head up, glaring at the older goggle-head from their group. Although he was sure that the rest of the group noticed that he hasn't bought anything yet, he hasn't expected such a question from Hikari's older brother. Takeru stretched his arms as a sign of gaining some new motivation. After rubbing his forehead with the palm of his right hand, Takeru stood up. "Okay, that's probably a good idea. Let's go."

* * *

The now smaller group of young man went together with their Digimon towards a red and orange coloured lovely store with the very promising name 'Temple of Love'. Takeru just flinched as he stood next to the store. _'Shall I find my present for Hika in this store?'_ Takeru thought. He wasn't sure if it'd be in general a good idea to enter this store, but the confident looks of Taichi and Ken gave him an explanation why they stood next to this store. Without thinking about the consequences this question could possibly make, Takeru asked the two other young man straight out what he thought.

"So you have to buy presents for your girlfriends?" Takeru asked them, trying to hide the lack of motivation in his voice which developed since he also hoped to find something appropiate for Hikari in this place.

This time the purple-haired boy with a pair of dark brown eyes was the one who answered Takeru's question. "Well, I guess that you're right," the Bearer of Kindness answered calmly. "Maybe you'll also find something here, although I don't know yet whom you have to buy something."

Hearing this statement, Takeru shivered lightly. He knew what Ken would ask him now, but he hoped that maybe it wouldn't happen. Unfortunately, everything went as expected.

"Whom you have to buy a present?" the purple haired young man asked his comrade.

Although Takeru expected this question, he had no idea what he could answer in this moment. His brain was stuck at the thought of Hikari. He hadn't even the urge to think about a possible answer. Despite the loudness that was emerged by everybody around them, the group of three young man stayed in an uncomfortable silence for a couple of seconds. After half an minute without anyone saying at least one word, Ken thought that it'd be the best idea to speak up again.

"Erhm... That's not important in this moment. But let's go inside. We still have to find something for our girlfriends, right, Taichi?" Ken asked the (in)official leader of the first generation of Digidestined with a lot of anticipation in his voice.

"That's right. We haven't much time left, so let's go," Taichi said in a promising way, going slowly into the store. As he noticed that Takeru still stood still, he spoke directly to him. "Don't you want to go with us, Takeru?" Taichi asked the Digidestined of Hope.

Immediately Takeru snapped out of his thoughts, being shocked by his own absence. He nodded as an approval that he was ready to go.

As Takeru went into the store, he was immediately speechless. The whole store was a gigantic accumulation of red and pink lovey-dovey stuff for couples and of all different shapes of hearts. Everything represented 'The Power of Love', which made Takeru feeling rather uneasy. Everything reminded him of his best friend. That's why he felt really uncomfortable in this store, knowing that he couldn't buy such things for Hikari after everything that happened during the past days.

Takeru sighed. He had no idea why he went together with Taichi and Ken into the store, considering the reaction he could have been expecting. Completely on the contrary, Ken was fully in his element, although that seemed to be very unusual for the shy boy. Of course he tried to find the best possible present for his girlfriend, Miyako. Ken also knew that it had to be something really personal, hence the main reason he went into the store was to gain some new ideas what he could buy for one of the most important persons in his life. On the contrary, Taichi had no idea what he should do. Although he honestly loved Sora, he had no idea what he should do in this store. He was never really well-minded at such things. That's why he asked Ken just several seconds after entering the store what he should do.

As Ken went together with Taichi and their Digimon partners away into the rear part of the store, Takeru stood almost alone in the front part of the store. The only being that still was nearby him in the unusally empty store, was his Digimon partner, Patamon, who immediately tried to get into a discussion with Takeru as he noticed how Takeru probably felt. The scent of strawberry perfum, which was really similar to Hikari's scent, wasn't helpful in this situation. Patamon looked for a good beginning for a possible discussion with Takeru, but, noticing how reserved he was, Patamon knew that Takeru still didn't know what he could buy for the person he had to buy a present. Thereby Patamon eventually found the right words.

"Just do what your heart wants to do, Keru," Patamon spoke with a calming and hopeful voice to his partner.

Takeru hasn't noticed that his Digimon partner looked out of his bag until he recognized his voice. But, instead of being insecure hat his Digimon partner spoke something to him in a place crowded with people, he began to think about this statement of his partner.

_'Is he right? Is that what I should really do despite of everything? Is this the best possible way?'_

Several similar thoughts ran through Takeru's mind as he finally stepped forwards, looking through all the different shelves, which were filled by lovey-dovey coupling stuff. This mainly included cups, bags and anything that could possibly heart-shaped or coloured in red or pink. The Digidestined of Hope still went through all the different shelves before he stood next to a gigantic wall of happy customers. As he saw all the couples in the pictures on the wall, it finally clicked in his head.

"That's it," Takeru said with a quiet, but also bright voice, whereby his words were only heared by Patamon.

"What is it, Keru?" Patamon asked the Bearer of Hope with a hopeful voice, believing that his earlier statement actually was helpful.

Again Takeru was slightly surprised as he noticed his partner speaking to him in the crowded store, but, nevertheless, his trademark hopeful grin wasn't able to leave his face. With a confident and sincere voice he answered his partner's question.

"Now I found everything I looked for. Let's leave the store, I think that I have everything I need at home."

During their walk towards the exit, Takeru and Patamon, who still held his head outside Takeru's bag, saw Ken and Taichi standing at the cashpoint. Ken had a really confident grin on his voice, completely on the contrary to Taichi, who probably wasn't sure if he was buying the best possible present. Nevertheless, both of them paid for everything and went together with their partners outside the store, where they met the Bearer of Hope and his Digimon partner.

* * *

The two hours spent at the mall passed by defintely faster than everybody expected. As the first Digidestined of both groups went towards the Chinese Restaurant in the new Odaiba Mall, everybody was stunned to see Digidestined from the opposite sex standing next to the Chinese Restaurant. The scent of heavy spiced food emerged from the restaurant behind the yellow neon sign, on which was written _'The Azure Dragon of the East'_. The place was unusally empty, considering how crowded the whole mall was that day. The last minutes before 2:00pm passed by with more and more Digidestined arriving in front of _'The Azure Dragon of the East'_ , realizing that both groups accidentally had the plan to eat in the same restaurant. Of course this sudden realization brought happy expressions on everybody's faces. Especially Miyako, Sora and Tailmon were happy to see their boyfriends accidentally again. A part of Hikari was also really happy to see Takeru again, although another part of her tried to deny that.

Time passed by and the group of Digidestined and Digimon were almost complete. The only people who haven't arrived on time were Taichi, Ken, Takeru and their Digimon partners. After another minute of waiting and mumbling to one another, Sora eventually put her phone out of her bag and tried to call her boyfriend. The Digidestined and especially their Digimon became hungrier and hungrier during the last couple of minutes due to the different aromas of spices which escaped the Restaurant they stood next to. As Sora finally typed in Taichi's number into her phone, every single person of the group turned around theirselves, recognizing a loud squeak that emerged from a pair of shoes several metres away.

Just a second later everybody saw a half-conscious Taichi laying on the ground. As he tried to sprint around a corner, he was probably too fast and slipped over himself, recieving all possible glares from the people around him. The first ones who stood net to him were his partner, Agumon, as well as Ken, Takeru and their partners. Just a second later Sora sprinted with all her might to Taichi, verifying if nothing serious happened. As Taichi stood up from the ground, Sora lowered her sprint slightly. The Digidestined of Love finally reached her boyfriend, asking him in a serious voice if really nothing happened. Instead of answering her question, Taichi said something rather unusual.

"I'm sorry that we're late," Taichi said with a low voice, of course to the astonishment of everybody around him.

Sora was shocked by this sudden statement. She would've never expected such a greeting from her usually slightly stubborn boyfriend. As a response, she gently caressed his left cheek with the palm of her right hand.

"Don't think about the others'," Sora answered with a voice full of sympathy and apologize that her boyfriend actually thought about her and the others' in the first place. "It is important that nothing serious happened." As Sora finished her statement, she lifter herself a bit up and quickly kissed her boyfriend on his forehead, recieving a sincere glare from him.

The group of four Digidestined slowly went, along with their partners, to the rest of the group, greeting one another friendly.

* * *

All Digidestined thought that the Restaurant was actually quite nice. The blue and white walls were lettered with big Chinese characters and reasurring icons. All the tables were lined up around a big aquarium with all different types of rainbow-coloured fishes. The slightly intrusive scent from the kitchen wasn't disturbing, since everybody was hungry in this very moment.

Several minutes later the group of Digidestined began a fanning discussion about their plans for the appearing vacation. The whole group sat down at the biggest table of the whole restaurant. After ordering all their meals, the whole group seemed to be enlightened, despite the shopping stress some of them had. This was i.a. caused by the happiness everybody had due to the big reunion of the whole group and by the reasurring and intrusive scent of coriander that emerged from the kitchen.

Of course the couples had to sit together. The rest of the group had been sitting down without paying any special attention who sat next to them. The only ones who paid visible attention to whom they would sit next to, were Catherine and Wallace. Both of them tried to sit down next to the Digidestined they would date the same evening. To Catherine's misfortune, Takeru was already sitting next to Koushiro and to... Hikari. The last fact of course made Wallace upset, but, nevertheless, the place next to Hikari still was free, so he still was able to sit down next to her. Next to Wallace Catherine took her place, of course without starting a talk with Wallace, according to the fact that she had to do something else.

The first part of the dinner passed by rather usually and without any circumstances. Although Wallace and Catherine stayed silent through the first couple of minutes, nobody seemed to notice it due to the intriguing discussion everybody had about the unusual relationship between Ogremon and Leomon and what would happen if they'd be friends or even more one day, although this was highly unlikely. The first generation shared their memories with the second generation, along with spreading hope that most of the conflicts actually died. The following couple of minutes were filled by heavy laughter emerged by almost everybody in the group, even of Hikari and Takeru who seemed to forgot their troubles in this moment. Unexpectedly, Wallace and Catherine yet remained silent. Only Terriermon and Floramon, who still had to be hidden in the bags of her partners, seemed to suspect something. Both of them already put their heads out of the bags and did want to start a talk with their partners as suddenly both Wallace and Catherine stood up.

"I have to talk with my parents now," Catherine stated with a quite cold and emotionless voice, which made Kari slightly suspicious.

"Me too," Wallace remained with a similar cold voice. His voice had the same effect on Takeru as Catherine's voice had on Hikari.

Without waiting for somebody's response, they headed towards the exit of the restaurant, leaving 12 startled humans and 14 startled Digimon back.

"They don't have to leave the restaurant," Daisuke pointed out."I don't know why they can't talk with their parents here."

"Probably they have to talk with their parents about something private," Koushiro answered with a 'matter of fact' voice.

* * *

In a dark corner next to the toilet entrances of Odaiba Mall, a dark shadow suddenly appeared in front of two people.

"Don't forget your mission!" the voice commanded with a harsh and dissatisfied voice. "You have to crush the Digidestined of Hope's spirits. I want to destroy him. He must be out of the way for my plan. You have to work on that!"

"We will follow your instruction, great master," the two people replied in unison.

"Now go back and fulfill your purpose," the dark voice ordered, leaving together with the night dark shadow.

* * *

After another time of chitchating, the group of Japanese Digidestined bursted out of laughter. Their whole discussion ended with an interesting story from Daisuke. He told what happened as he and V-Mon met Tonosama Gekomon (ShogunGekomon) several weeks after his purpose to cut off his tail.

"Why are you laughing?" Daisuke asked everybody around him. "I mean... Looking on the whole situation from today, I'd be also mad if I had been in his role. It is just logical that he was a bit mad at me."

To Daisuke's misfortune, the laughter of the whole group even grew up as he finished the story, which ended with him and V-Mon being chased by Tonosama Gekomon through his whole village. Tonosama Gekomon was a bit vengeful, that's why he tried to catch them and to cut Daisuke's hair off. It was just another story from the category 'Typical Daisuke', since this was the name Yamato once gave his stories.

As Daisuke started to think if it was a good idea to tell such a story, he suddenly recognized two familiar figures approaching in the restaurant. Hoping to change the topic, he immediately talked to them.

"Hey Wallace, Catherine!" he said with a cheerful voice. "I'm glad to see you again."

Both Wallace and Catherine just answered with a small smile, noticing how hard everybody laughed in this very moment.

Immediately both sat down, hoping slightly that the group would calm down a bit so that they could join the discussion.

Unexpectedly, everybody still laughed for one whole minute, which made them slightly upset, since even their own Digimon partners were partly unconscious as images of Tonosama Gekomon trying to cut Daisuke's hair off emerged their mind.

As everybody eventually calmed down, Wallace unexpectedly pulled himself a bit closer to Hikari, of course to her's and Takeru's surprise. Takeru flinched a bit as he noticed how Wallace's head went towards Hikari's ear, whispering something into it he could barely understand.

"Are you excited for today?" Wallace asked the Bearer of Light, of course in a slightly seductive voice.

Hikari wasn't yet sure how she should react in this moment. A part of her did want to answer the question in a polite ansd joyful way, but yet her heart blocked such an answer, remembering herself that Takeru sat next to her and that it would be really inequitable to answer now with a pure, joyful voice, considering the fact that he asked her out a couple of days ago.

"Sure," Hikari answered, of course to Wallace's astonishment. He expected a rather joyful answer. But, nevertheless, he pulled himself and Hikari closer to one another. He wrapped his left arm around her shoulders, pulling his chest towards her right arm. As he did so, Wallace quickly glared Takeru on, who now had a rather startled expression on his face. Although Takeru knew that Hikari was going on a date with Wallace, it still harmed him to see such an intimate contact between his best friend and someone else. Wallace noted Takeru's face expression, and, as a quiet response, he grinned mischieviously before he tilted his head away, ignoring the glares all the other Digidestined, especially Daisuke, gave him due to his sudden interaction with Hikari.

Takeru certainly recognized Wallace's grin towards him. In this moment, he could feel just a slight aversion towards Wallace, since he didn't know that Wallace was controled by someone else.

_'I can't remember that Wallace's behaviour has been such indelicate and inappropiate a couple of years ago. But why he does this to me?'_

* * *

_End of Chapter 5_

* * *

A/N: So... That's it, guys! This chapter was also quite long, but I hope that it wasn't too long.

Of course _'The Azure Dragon of the East'_ is a reference to Qinglongmon/Azulongmon.

Yet the Adventure elements weren't really existent, but I promise that some Adventure elememts will be included in the next chapters.

I know that it took me some time to publish this chapter, which was mainly caused by my attempts to rewrite the previous chapters. I don't know when I'll publish the next chapter, since I try to improve this story. But first I'm going to rewrite my oneshot called Cookies.

Don't forget to click the review button.^-^ I'm open to any critical words (of course if your criticism can be justified).

Please don't ignore this story from now on. I hope to hear from you soon!^-^


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